FDA says Illinois plan may usher in drugs from Europe's developing countri

[Nambe]

WASHINGTON (AP)

The Illinois governor's ambitious plan to help that state's residents buy prescription drugs from the United Kingdom also may permit drug imports from Europe's developing countries, the Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) fears.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich provided the FDA (news - web sites) with an 84- page report spelling out how Illinois would act as a trusted intermediary, facilitating safe prescription drug purchases from Canada and the United Kingdom.

William Hubbard, the agency's associate commissioner, said the Illinois plan still "lacked specificity" on key areas.

For instance, opening America's door to prescription drugs from the United Kingdom leaves it propped open for sketchier drug imports from lesser developed countries, he said. ..

Need A Hug Go To The Store!

[Liberal Veteran]

1. Wow...now that a shocking reversal on the part of the FDA..

NOT!!!!

:grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr::grr:v

[DrWeird]

2. As long as the drugs have been approved by the FDA...

and as long as they meet quality controls, I don't have a problem.

If it's drugs that HAVEN'T been approved by the FDA, then I'm skeptical.

That's how all those American women got thalidomide which caused those horrible birth defects. It hadn't been approved in the US so they imported it.

[Liberal Veteran]

3. Agreed. It's silly to say we can't import Stocrin....

...which is the same thing as Sustiva (an antiviral) when it's made by the same damn company! If I can buy it cheaper overseas, why should I pay US prices for the same product I can get cheaper?

[Maple]

4. Jeepers, a few days ago

Canadian drugs were supposedly the same as terrorist drugs, and now you're willing to import from Romania??

Don't all these policy reversals make anyone dizzy?

[Tempest]

5. “The FDA has become a pawn of the pharmaceutical industry"

The mayor of Springfield, MA:

“The FDA has become a pawn of the pharmaceutical industry, that they are protecting those high profit margins. If the FDA wanted to put a plan together similar to what we're doing in Springfield, that would be good for all Americans, they can do it in 15 minutes, relative to safety,” says Albano.

--------

“The influence of the pharmaceutical industry on our government is huge. And the FDA is a part of the executive branch of the government. And this is just the propaganda that's put out to do the drug company's bidding, to make sure that Americans don't have access to cheaper drugs,” says Angell.

---------

Since 1999, the drug industry has given more than 45 million dollars in political contributions, and it's spent hundreds of millions more on an army of more than 600 lobbyists to work its will on Capitol Hill.

Congressman Burton says the new Medicare act makes it clear the industry got its money's worth. He says billions of dollars are in it for drug companies in this new Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit.

“In the new Medicare Act, the federal government is specifically prohibited from negotiating prices with drug companies,” says Safer.

“That is unconscionable. The government of the United States negotiates prices in the Defense Department, in every area of government,” says Burton. “And here we are, going to spend billions and billions and billions and probably trillions of dollars on pharmaceutical products. And we cannot negotiate the prices with the pharmaceutical industry. That's just not right.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/03/12/60minutes/main605700.shtml

[Nicholas_J]

6. I was at the pharmacy today

picking up a prescription with a freebee coupon my doctor gave me, and the lady in fromt of me, a woman on medicare was just told that her meds would cost 116 dollars cash, and with her new Medicare Prescription card, she would get the massive discount of ten dollars, bringing her prescription down to 106 dollars. I never saw anyone so pissed off, as this was the first use of her new "Medicare Prescription Card" that she signed up for under the new Bush plan. She had just met the 600 dollar deductable for the card, and had aready been shelling out since the cards became available.

Gave me a real opening for talking about the differnce between Kerry and Bush when it came to their ideas for health insurance coverage.

She was a definite Bushy, but after a nice clean explanation of the Ponzi scheme the "Medicare Prescription Drug Act" is, she was even more pissed off. Explaiing how by the time you met the deductable, and paid out all of your annual payments for the program, you will shell out about 1200 dollars, and within a few months, if you are the average elderly person with a few prescriptions for drugs that have no generic alternative, you would hit the donut hole in the program and be shilling out a few thousand dollars more before you were able to get any more out of the program, and that all the program was really any good for was the very few people who might have catastrophic, serious illnesses that required tens of thousands of dollars worth of drugs a year, and that ussually people who require that amount of expensive medications do not live long enough forthis to cost the government very much.

Essentially the prescirption drug planned is designed to fill the coffers of medicare without having to increase the percentages paid by employees, (but also reduces the amount shelled out by employers, who pay half of the medicare and socual security taxes for their employees).

I am disabled, and looked at these cards and after breaking down all of the cards I could find, figures they all were WORSE than the cards that are already available for ten or 12 dollars a month from pharmacies, and a lot worse than the AARP card that was available for 19.95 a year.

Another Republican scam on the public.

I have been looking at the new ideas for Health Savings Accounts and they are even more of a joke. They really only benefit people who can afford to shell out 7,500 a year for each family memeber, and the money then becomes totally tax free, whetther you decide to use it for medical expenses, or take it out to take a nice trip to Monte Carlo at the end of the year if you have not used it.

As usual with Republican programs, those who need it the most, cannot afford to make full use of it, and those who can afford it, usually have health care plans that are so good that they rarely would need to utilize the money in the HSA for legitimate health expenses.