*sigh* -- ok, people, drugs from canada are NOT cheap...to canadians...

[acroyear]

In yet another call for "allow cheap Canadian drugs into America for our citizens", they seem to yet again forget that prescription drugs are partly subsidized by the Canadian Goverment, paid for by the high tax rate Canadians pay on their income and property. Canadians have a more socialized medical support system as part of their government's services, one which (pay attention, Mr. Kerry) doesn't really work very well. The prescription drugs only look "cheap" to us because of the final price-tag to the buyer, but that price tag doesn't reflect its real cost.

Americans getting cheap drugs from Canada are doing so at the expense of Canadian taxpayers and I in every way support the Canadian's right to tell us to knock it off.

Now, the fact that the drug companies themselves are selling the drugs to the Canadian pharmacy network for less than they're pricing to american distribution networks is a different issue entirely, and one that begs for some form of regulation (instead of the overly-expensive and utterly worthless law that Bush just signed this past season).

The price set by drug makers should be the same to each country; tarriffs/taxes on that set by governments are a different issue, yes, but shouldn't be so expensive to the drug makers or pharmacies that americans have to look elsewhere for the same stuff illegally.

Comments

Except what's happening is the opposite.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

American drug companies are charging Americans more than they're charging Canadians, regardless of where the drugs are actually being manufactured. They're taking advantage of insurance companies' policies and charging them more, with the effect of making drugs far too expensive for those (i.e., seniors) without coverage (and upping our insurance premiums in the process).

Rather than FIX the problem by regulating the drug makers to stop that, the governments (state and federal) would rather slap some socialistic system onto it (which won't work, and already is costing millions more than was originally promised), or propose that we bypass the distribution network in America, thus taking advantage of Canadian taxpayer dollars because they aren't aware of how the Canadian system works.

For drugs made by foreign companies, I could care less how it works; half of them aren't approved by the FDA in the first place and most never would survive the FDA's screening process. They can do what they want.

For drugs made by American companies, they should be charging Americans less, not more, regardless of where the drugs are actually manufactured.