Thursday, February 17, 2005

Did the House blow it yesterday on prescription drugs?

Democrats generally and those in the House of Representatives of this state specifically, seem to view Canada as some sort of panacea in the area of prescription drugs. Well, as many Republicans explained to them yesterday during floor debate, their take on this issue is short-sighted, foolish and solves nothing.

Drugs in Canada do not cost any less than they cost here.

The end-user/consumer doesn’t pay as much, because Canada’s socialist medical system directly subsidizes each end-user purchase with tax subsidies.

As an example, we have, let’s say, “Drug A,” that cost $10 to the purchaser here in Washington State. But if that same person were to go to Canada, taking into account the exchange rate, the cost is seemingly “reduced” to, say, $6 for the same prescription.

What democrats here apparently neither get nor care about is the fact that the Canadian Government has come up with the additional $4 in subsidies to enable the cheaper purchase.

The result? The “cheaper” Canadian sourced drugs are NOT, in fact, “cheaper.” They ARE, in fact, subsidized. And Canada has had just about all it’s going to take in the realm of subsidizing American drug purchasers with Canadian tax dollars.

Look for Canada to close this loophole and soon. Maybe then, legislative democrats will go back to the drawing board and come up with a plan that will actually accomplish something, instead of this smoke-and-mirrors nonsense they’re engaging in now.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wrong -- that's not subsidies by the Canadian Government -- that's called negotiation by their government, based on their purchasing power, something our own government is barred from doing.

Look behind the curtain -- who's contributing massive amounts of campaign contributions to the Republicans. Could it be the Drug Companies? Gasp!

K.J. Hinton said...

Sorry, but I must disagree. Your attention is drawn to the following quote from the Detroit News story listed here: Doctors push for cheaper drugs

"Also, Riley said, it's not fair for U.S. citizens to buy drugs from Canada, where the national government subsidizes drug purchases with tax money."

I appreciate rhetoric as much as the next guy... but first, I know what I'm talking about and second, you're going to have bring MUCH more game then this.