Illinois Representative Rahm Emanuel Discusses the Seized on Prescription Drugs

We're allowing is you standardize the system, you bring the pre--pre-market principles to the marketing of prescription drugs. It's the only product made in the world where there is actually prohibition from free trade. If you brought free trade and competition and choice, actually the market would work.

In a two-way remote interview with Matt Lauer, Illinois Representative Rahm
Emanuel notes the FDA seizing drugs is a form of intimidation, and try to get
and prevent what is now, increasingly every year, being more and more people
going to Canada and to Europe to get their drugs, notes people from all over the
world come to the United States to get medical care, and yet Americans are
forced to go all over the world to get their medications, and that’s wrong,
notes he said it’s random and second of all, of the multiple states that have
actually set up a Internet system, note once has the FDA shut down those
states, notes if it’s illegal, why are they not shutting down the states?
Because it’s only a form of trying to get people to stop doing and getting fair
prices from the market; notes here in the United States—it’s like they said on
that piece before, we pay—I have my own Web site for Congress—I have a Costco
in Chicago, a Costco in Toronto—in the United States, we pay approximately $100
more for Lipitor; notes It’s made at a single plant in Ireland, and the only
difference from what’s on the Canadian shelf at Costco and the Chicago shelf at
Costco is about $98. That’s the only difference; notes the only places where
they’re seizing counterfeit are drugs made here in the United States. And the
only reason there’s a market for counterfeit is because prices in the United
States are too expensive. Take a step back now and think about this; this is
brought to you by the United States government, this policy, we’re allowing
tainted Canadian cattle with mad cow disease into the country, but preventing
Americans from getting drugs in Canada at 50 to 60 percent cheaper. That’s the
policy of the United States government. Tainted cattle beef—tainted Canadian
beef with mad cow disease, you can have that in the United States food system,
yet you’re not allowed to go to Canada, England, Ireland and get drugs 50
percent cheaper; says I think the biggest health risk today in the prescription
drug business is where the United States citizens are paying anywhere from 30 to
70 percent more. That’s number one; says We’re allowing is you standardize the
system, you bring the pre—pre-market principles to the marketing of
prescription drugs. It’s the only product made in the world where there is
actually prohibition from free trade. If you brought free trade and competition
and choice, actually the market would work. And the United States consumer and
taxpayer would pay world prices rather than inflated prices and we would stop
subsidizing the starving French, Germans and Swiss, and that is what we’re doing
in our pricing system. That is wrong and it’s a government policy, it’s not the
market policy; says of course they’re trying to do this to intimidate Illinois,
Wisconsin, Minnesota, Democrat and Republicans, governors, mayors, congressman,
senators have all come together and they’re targeting where we have been
effective in saying to the federal government `The policy you’ve put in place
forcing the taxpayers and consumers of our country to play—pay inflated prices
is wrong.’ We are going to have a new system, and it is working because people
are signing up. And, you know, this process of going to Canada is not like it
started yesterday, it’s been going on for 10 years. And now we’re going to
Europe to get even more competitive prices.

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