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Illinois Considers Buying Drugs in Canada
By Monica Davey The
New York Times, September
15, 2003 Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois is considering whether his state should begin buying prescription drugs from Canada for its employees, a decision that he says could save tens of millions of dollars, but could also put him at odds with the Food and Drug Administration over the issue. "It doesn't matter where you go in our state, you meet people who are struggling with the cost of prescription drugs," Mr. Blagojevich, a Democrat, said in an interview this afternoon. "If you can buy the same drug made by the same company, and it is safe and it costs less, then that makes sense." In a faltering economy, Illinois taxpayers spent $340 million this year, a 15 percent increase over last year, to provide drugs for 230,000 current and retired state employees, the governor said. That figure is projected to grow by 17 percent next year. The cost of prescription drugs in Canada and most other industrialized countries is regulated by the government, unlike in the United States. Last year, drug prices in this country were 67 percent higher than in Canada, a report by a Canadian health agency found. But Mr. Blagojevich could face legal problems if he decides to pursue Canadian sources, because the federal Food and Drug Administration bars people from importing drugs that have not been approved by the agency, and bars the resale of drugs made here, exported elsewhere, then returned here. In recent years, the practice has grown in popularity among private citizens, and it is currently under debate in Congress. At least one city, Springfield, Mass., has begun to buy prescription drugs from Canada for its employees, but Illinois would become the first state to do so. "We're concerned about the dangers here," said William K. Hubbard, associate commissioner of the F.D.A. Mr. Hubbard said there could be risks from drugs bought in Canada, including those not approved by the F.D.A. and not made in the United States, those that have expired or were improperly stored and those without labels. Still, enforcement of the rules has been spotty. Individual consumers and even busloads of Americans are generally not arrested after returning from Canada in search of cheaper medicines. "It's not O.K. for the individual to bring in drugs," Mr. Hubbard said, "but so much of the stuff is coming in and it's so uncompassionate to go after patients." But if Illinois were to pursue a formal plan for seeking Canadian drugs for its workers, Food and Drug officials would "hope to have a conversation" with Mr. Blagojevich to lay out the agency's health and legal concerns, Mr. Hubbard said. And on Tuesday, agency officials plan to meet with Mayor Michael J. Albano of Springfield to discuss that city's program. Springfield began buying drugs in Canada this summer for those of the city's 7,000 workers and 2,000 retired workers who chose the optional plan. Mayor Albano said he had studied the increases in prescription drug costs to the city in his eight years in office, a rise to about $18 million from about $8 million, and was searching for some way to end the constant increases. In February, he said, he went to Canada, studied the wholesale operation where he might buy the drugs and ordered insulin supplies for his 13-year-old son. What he discovered, he said, was that taxpayers would save about $850 a year simply on his family's medical purchases and that his family would save about $250 in co-payments. Depending on how many workers participate, the city could save at least $4 million a year, Mayor Albano said. So far, he said, some 1,000 employees have signed up. The mayor, who said he requested the meeting on Tuesday with federal officials, also said he thought the drug plan was "within the guidelines issued by the F.D.A." and that he considered the agency's talk of health risks to be disingenuous. "Let's think about this," he said. "How many Canadian citizens have been harmed by counterfeit medicines? Let's get real here. That's not an issue, and you know it's not an issue." Mayor Albano said officials from other towns and cities had been contacting him since he started the drug plan to see whether they might follow suit. He said he had received queries from officials in California, Nebraska, Indiana, North Carolina, Connecticut, Michigan and elsewhere in Massachusetts. City leaders in Pittsfield, Mass., for example, are studying the idea, as well as other ways to save money using domestic drug companies, according to the mayor there, Sara Hathaway. Though Pittsfield is unlikely to rush into such a plan, Mayor Hathaway said, it is taking the possibility seriously. "This looks like a real way to realize some savings," she said. "I will be very interested to see how the F.D.A. responds." Mayor Hathaway too expressed doubt about the federal regulators' motives. "I don't see Canadians dropping dead from their prescriptions," she said. "I am taking a bit of a jaundiced view of their rulings on this. They have to recognize that Americans should have the freedom to purchase the lowest cost prescription." In Illinois, Mr. Blagojevich has asked his staff to study the issue and report to him by December on what the cost savings might be. Even so, he acknowledged that F.D.A. regulations could be a hurdle. "We're not going to violate the law, we're going to urge a changing of the law," he said. "If the study shows what we think it might, that this could be a cheap and safe method, this will be powerful evidence. Hopefully, we can persuade them." Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
