Making Prescription Drugs Affordable?

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the United States is the only country that prohibits "Parallel Trade", the importation of prescription medications from abroad; therefore, there is an attempt to reduce the cost of these medicines by making legal the reimportation of medicines that are actually manufactured by American corporations, which are much less expensive in foreign countries. The author points out that committed free trade and Parallel Trade supporters contend that allowing pharmaceutical imports would provide the best of both worlds, affordable health care for ordinary Americans, with competition further stimulating research and development. The paper reiterates that rather than allowing the consumer to decide if a foreign, or reimported, product is safe, the official position of the United States government through the FDA is one of "we know better than you do"; nevertheless, Americans should be able to use the power of the marketplace to ensure that they receive not only the best care, but also the best price.

From the Paper:

"Individual states, too, support schemes such as AARP's when it comes to saving money on their employee health plans. In particular, states near the Canadian border actively encourage consumers to "shop around." Many municipalities are already taking the plunge, taking full advantage of the equal quality, and yet dramatically lower priced Canadian reimports. The Mayor of Springfield, Massachusetts, Michael Albano, sees reimportation from Canada as the answer to the rapidly rising healthcare costs that have become such a strain on his city's employee benefits provisions."

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