The US Senate has approved a proposal that would allow licensed pharmacists and drug wholesalers to import prescription drugs from Canada that are already approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Canadian prices for many drugs range from 25% to 80% lower than those set for the same drugs by the US Congress and the manufacturers. Some US citizens already travel to Canada to buy the drugs or use the internet to import them. This proposal is designed to make it easier for Americans to get access to the drugs.
Writing in the New York Times on 23 June, journalist Robin Toner said that “the fight over prescription drug benefits has become a proxy for the larger struggle over health care itself,” with “millions of elderly struggling to cope, largely on their own, with soaring drug costs.”
Medicare beneficiaries (people aged over 65) spent an average of $813 (£516; €806) of their own money on prescription drugs in 2000 and $928 in 2001 and are spending $1051 in 2002, reports the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health research group. Toner, who visited senior citizens' centres with congressional candidates, says the oldest citizens are among the most vulnerable, with an estimated 45% of those aged 85 or older having no coverage for prescription drugs. Elderly Americans make up 13% of the population but account for 34% of prescriptions.