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The following letter has been selected as the weekly feature. If you have something to say about the battle for affordable medication send us a letter and share your views.
Irvin Doress (open letter to President George Bush):
"If you make it illegal for one to get life-saving from our friendly neighbors to the north, I will end up in either serious financial trouble or grave medical trouble, since I can not afford, as a retiree, to spend $600 or more for just one medication, since I have 11 more medications to pay for and worry about. Doubtlessly, if you make getting pharmaceuticals from Canada illegal, I, being a law-abiding citizen will cease obtaining drugs from Canada. I will also be obliged to cut down from three square meals a day, to two meals daily or, quite possibly, one. Now, Mr. President, I just think about the millions of seniors that an executive order to prohibit medication from Canada from reaching U.S. citizens would feel about your presidency."
January 26, 2005 - Hamilton Wenham Chronicle
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The following media publication has been selected as the weekly feature and we encourage all visitors to read it and submit their comments.
Merck tightens sales to Canada
Merck became the fourth drug maker to take such a step against Canadameds, joining Pfizer Inc., AstraZeneca PLC, and Wyeth, said Rupinder Brar, special projects manager for the Internet pharmacy. Individuals, states including Illinois and Minnesota, and cities such as Springfield, Mass., have started buying prescription drugs from Canada because government controls keep prices there as much as 70 percent lower than in the United States.
January 20, 2005
The Boston Globe
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The following political comment has been selected as the weekly feature and we encourage all visitors to read it. We also encourage all politicians to respond to this comment or to make a statement of their own.
State chamber criticizes drug imports
"Legislation that is supposed to increase older American's access to needed medicine now threatens to strip over six million men and women of their drug coverage,"said Robert M. Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center, a national consumer service group. "It is a moral imperative that the Administration and Congress act now to ensure that the neediest Americans not be the unintended casualties of the Medicare changes."
January 19, 2005
Southeast Missourian
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Bill to allow pharmacies to reimport drugs passes Senate
The Oklahoma Senate backs a drug reimportation plan that would permit state
pharmacies to obtain U-S-made prescription drugs from Canada and elsewhere for
sale here.The Federal Drug Administration has opposed drug reimportation bills,
claiming they violate the Interstate Commerce Clause of the U-S Constitution.
Those measures mainly deal with allowing individuals to obtain reimported
drugs. Tulsa state Senator Tom Adelson says his legislation avoids that legal
question because it would require pharmacies to sell reimported medicines only
to Oklahomans in intrastate, not interstate, commerce. Most programs are geared
to allowing individuals obtain such drugs by crossing the border into Canada or
buying drugs online.
March 08, 2006
Democrats allege bad deal on drugs
Bay Area seniors are not saving significant money under Medicare's new
prescription drug program, according to a report released Monday by most of the
Bay Area's House Democrats. The report says Bay Area prices for 2004's 10
best-selling prescription drugs among seniors are 75 percent higher under the
new Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit than under deals negotiated by
the federal government at other agencies such as the Department of Veterans
Affairs. Medicare Part D's prices also are 60 percent higher than those paid by
consumers in Canada; almost 5 percent higher than prices on Drugstore.com; and
almost 2 percent higher than prices at Costco, the report found. But
Republicans who shepherded the bill through Congress rejected a proposal to let
Medicare negotiate with drug companies for lower prices. The report proves
"what we've been saying since the debate on the Republican Medicare drug bill
began," said Rep. Pete Stark, D-Fremont, in a news release. "If you create a
privatized drug benefit and refuse to let the government negotiate lower
prices, senior citizens and people with disabilities will pay the price," said
Stark, who as ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee's Health
Subcommittee is particularly outspoken on the issue. "Instead of attempting to
set Medicare on the road to privatization, Republicans in Congress should have
worked with Democrats to establish a real prescription benefit within
Medicare."
March 08, 2006
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