|
Two senators say they will hold up the nomination of McClellan
to head CMS because he enforces the laws against
"re-importation" of drugs from Canada. Both of the Senators are
bright enough to "get it" but I'll try to put it in terms that
their staff might understand.
One- It is
illegal
Two- It is LESS
safe than getting drugs manufactured, distributed and labeled
for use in the USA.
Three- price
controls in Canada make the drugs less expensive for Canadians
but work against the economics of the pharmaceutical business in
the USA.
If
these good Senators had each had a business that sold WIDGETS
they might understand the economics better. If they sold 5% of
their widgets to Canada for less than they sell them for in the
US due to price controls but still made a small amount above
production then everyone could be happy. If those widgets were
sold back into the US and undercut the US price it would cause a
5% decrease in the US market for WIDGETS. So far, not too bad.
As demand for cheap widgets rises then the Canadians would order
more and more widgets so that they could sell back into the US
and further undermine the US market. Pharmaceutical companies
such as GlaxoSmithKline,, Lilly and Pfizer recognize this and
are limiting the amount of drug that they will sell to Canada.
If the demagogues were honest in their approach to
pharmaceuticals then they would propose one of two "solutions"
(of which I subscribe to neither):
1) Nationalization of
the US pharmaceutical industry
(like the government
could run it more efficiently… right!)
2) strict price
controls on pharmaceuticals
(and then how
about college tuition and automobiles and….)
Short of either of these "solutions" they should stop hiding
behind Canadian price controls. (Just my opinion…I could be
wrong… but I'll bet I'm not!)
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=22372
|
Good
morning!
