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BETHLEHEM (Mar 11) –
State Senator Lisa M. Boscola wants
an independent state agency to
calculate how much money
Pennsylvania residents could save by
importing drugs from Canada.
Other states are already looking to
import less-expensive drugs from
other countries that are medically
equivalent to those sold in the
United States, she said. One state
in particular, Illinois, already has
a program to import prescription
drugs from Canada, Ireland, and the
United Kingdom.
“The cost of prescription drugs
continues to rise far beyond the
ability of Older Pennsylvanians to
afford them,” Boscola said.
“Seniors have been especially hard
hit by these increases and it’s time
we do something about it. While our
retirees receive a small COLA of 1
or 2 percent each year, the prices
for their medicines keep going up by
10 to 15 percent a year.”
Cheaper drugs would also
mean significant savings for
Pennsylvania’s PACE Program, she
said. PACE uses funds generated by
the State Lottery to pay for drugs
that qualified seniors can purchase
for a modest co-pay.
Lower-priced drugs would
allow lawmakers to expand the PACE
program to serve more Older
Pennsylvanians, which is something
that Boscola has been fighting for
in the State Senate.
“In some cases, brand-name drugs
cost 50 percent less in other
countries than they do in the United
States,” Boscola said. “But even a
10-percent savings would be a huge
amount of money for the PACE
Program. Instead of spending State
funds to increase the profits of the
big pharmaceutical companies, we
could spend that money to help more
seniors afford the medicine they
need.
Drug prices are also the biggest
cause of rising health care costs in
Pennsylvania, according to Boscola.
Making less-expensive drugs
available to health care plans
operating in Pennsylvania would
relieve some of the job-crushing
costs that small businesses now must
bear.
“Lower drug prices will
benefit all Pennsylvanians,” Boscola
said. “Our Commonwealth should not
sit back while other states actively
pursue alternatives to the monopoly
pricing schemes of the big drug
companies.”
Senator Boscola’s
resolution calls for the Joint State
Government Commission to analyze
federal barriers to drug importation
and to report its findings and
recommendations to the Senate no
later than June 30, 2006.
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