McCain Pushes Drug-Import Bill Sought by Obama Budget [McCain-Snowe-Dorgan-Obama]

Bloomberg | 2009-03-04 | Tom Randall

[rabscuttle385]

Link only, per FR copyright and posting policy

[rabscuttle385]

The Juan McCain Truth File. "I have great respect for Al Gore." —John McCain, October 2, 2008 FR Keywords: mccaintruthfile, mcqueeg, mcbama Please tag all relevant threads with the aforementioned keywords. This can be a very high-volume ping list at times. To join the ping list: FReepmail rabscuttle385 with the subject line add  mccaintruthfile. (Stop getting pings by sending the subject line drop mccaintruthfile.) Republican Commissar’s Warning: By joining this ping list, you may be subjected to the delusional rants and ramblings of McCainiacs, of "moderate" Republicans, of pragmatic conservatives resigned to voting for the lesser of two Democrats, and of countless GOP shills who simply want to meet a new overlord.

[pnh102]

So what exactly is wrong with people going to Canada to buy cheap drugs and bring them back here? It is no different than crossing state lines to buy cheaper smokes or booze.

[TADSLOS]

SWEET! Cheap imported drugs from Mexico. Any guess what’s really in ‘em? You swallow them first. I’ll watch for adverse reactions, then we can go sit in the emergency room all day competing with illegals to get your stomach pumped by a minimum wage gub’mint paid intern under Obama’s new universal health plan.

[Cicero]

Well, what’s wrong is that the US has (or had) free market policies in place that encourage drug companies to spend billions on discovering new drugs and getting a return on the market.

Canada does NOTHING to contribute to drug innovation, but they parasitize upon US companies and set an artificially low price by government fiat.

If Canada is allowed to step in and wreck the drug market in the US, it will drive the few remaining innovators out of business.

I’m not a fan of the drug companies. But what we have is one of the few places in the world where innovation still takes place, and it’s market driven.

Hillary killed the flu vaccine business in this country by forcing cheap sales to kids. Now we have to hope other countries can make enough vaccine to get us through an emergency. The same thing could happen across the board.

How much medical innovation do you have even in Europe, which is filled with bright people?

[Myrddin]

So what exactly is wrong with people going to Canada to buy cheap drugs and bring them back here? It is no different than crossing state lines to buy cheaper smokes or booze.

No problem if what is in the bottle is what you expected to get. If not, don't complain. You "saved" money. Even after the cost of a round trip out of the country.

[SJSAMPLE]

Bingo!

I began typing a lengthy post, but you nailed it.

Kudos.

[WellyP]

If the drugs meet ALL FEA standards then I do not wee the problem.!

[from occupied ga]

Regardless of the content of the bill this just shows how closely allied McCain and the liberal Obama democrats are. Obama’s win was just simply the greater of two evils.

[WellyP]

FDA

[Myrddin]

Bullseye! The higher prices in the U.S. drive the R&D that brings new drugs to the market. Absent that economic input, the R&D would dry up. The Europeans and Canadians are happy to snap up the fruits of our labor (both research and the folks who paid the higher prices for the research) and sell it at a discount. Why not? They never shouldered the expense to develop the new products. They have no costs of research, development and approval to amortize. If the market is cut out from under the R&D community, they will stop doing R&D. The motive is profit. The beneficiaries are people who need treatment. Both parties are damaged by the imports.

[Myrddin]

If the drugs meet ALL FEA standards then I do not wee the problem.!

How do you spell relief?

[jaydubya2]

"So what exactly is wrong with people going to Canada to buy cheap drugs and bring them back here? It is no different than crossing state lines to buy cheaper smokes or booze."

Rod Blagoivich found out the hard way...

[petercooper]

“Given FDA safety and efficacy standards, it takes on average 12 to 15 years and over $800 million for a company (and most are American) to develop a new drug. But only the U.S. market is free. Abroad, pharmaceutical companies must negotiate prices with socialized medical systems. As a result, foreigners usually pay far less than Americans for their patented drugs. Americans bear the lion’s share of R&D costs, subsidizing socialized medical systems in the process, while foreigners are classic “free riders.””

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117849415551193921.html?mod=djemITP&apl=y

[calex59]

Bullseye! The higher prices in the U.S. drive the R&D that brings new drugs to the market. Absent that economic input, the R&D would dry up. The Europeans and Canadians are happy to snap up the fruits of our labor (both research and the folks who paid the higher prices for the research) and sell it at a discount. Why not? They never shouldered the expense to develop the new products. They have no costs of research, development and approval to amortize. If the market is cut out from under the R&D community, they will stop doing R&D. The motive is profit. The beneficiaries are people who need treatment. Both parties are damaged by the imports.

I have a couple of questions to ask both of you: If the people who are supposed to benefit from the drugs can't afford them then why bother to do R&D? Most conservatives, and I am one of them, complain about Part D for seniors, yet you don't want them to go to Canada to get them if they have no insurance. So, I guess the solution that you two, and others, see is that seniors should just go ahead and die so our drug companies can keep on with R&D for seniors(and there are other, younger people who can't afford insurance but need meds) who can't afford the drugs?

How does that make you any different than the Dems who want to ration health care?

You are probably the same people who are constantly saying that free trade is a good deal for America, but this free trade you don't want.

[Age of Reason]

Canada does NOTHING to contribute to drug innovation, but they parasitize upon US companies and set an artificially low price by government fiat.

So, don't sell it to them.

[Age of Reason]

They should also make buying college textbooks from overseas legal, too—because publishers sell the same books for a lower price overseas.

So by paying more for books, U.S. students are subsidizing the education of foreign countries, so they can steal our jobs and industries.

[Myrddin]

You won't have to worry about whether drugs are affordable. You'll be able to buy all the stuff that has been developed to date at affordable prices. There just won't be anything new. If what's on the shelf won't fix your problem, you'll die anyway. There won't be an alternative available at any price. Drug companies have lots of special programs for hardship cases that really need their products, but can't afford them. It's good PR. I would rather see prices that encourage R&D with internal "charity" efforts directed at good PR to the alternative of no R&D because it is not a paying proposition.

The Dems will ration health care. They will also kill the profit motive for R&D. You'll get a ration of the existing drugs. There won't be anything new. R&D is the engine that converts "hope" into reality.

[calex59]

I notice you didn't answer my questions but simply went into a monologue about how bad it is to buy drugs in Canada. Now, once again: How are seniors supposed to buy drugs if they can't get part D and they can't buy them in Canada? Not all seniors are able to get health insurance with prescription coverage.

Tell me, just how would you handle this if you were someone, senior or not, who had to have life saving drugs but couldn't get them in the US because of the cost? Would you buy them where they are cheaper or would you stand on principle and say, "Oh, no, I am not going to buy them in Canada, I will just go ahead and die so the drug companies will be able to do R&D! Like hell you would, you would do what everyone else who can't afford them here is doing, buy them in Canada!

[goat granny]

US citizens should not be paying 10dollars a pill for anything. Many medications are duplicate of medications already on the market. Just change one ingredient and you have a new medication. Importing meds also make generics at wal-mart 10 dollars for a 3 month supply. I don't have prescription coverage, I will pay cash for my meds, not have my grandchildren buy them...I knew a lady that paid 1500 dollars a month for cancer medication. that is a crime. R & D be damned