[kabar]

Nonsense. In many cases, foreign governments are dictating prices to the drug companies if they want to sell them in their countries. If they then sell them in the US market competing against the drug manufacturers who developed them, the unintended consequence will be for the drug companies to reduce supply and to invest less money in developing new ones. I want the drug companies to be in control of their own products, not the government.

Pharma, and pharma alone, has the special monopoly privilege of federal legislation preventing consumers from shopping around for their products.

Source please. And there are reasons for such controls, which have to do with public safety.

There are plenty of US products that are cheaper overseas than they are here, mainly due to the fact that the products would not be competitive in poorer markets. I can buy a pair of Nike snearkers cheaper in Seoul than I can here. Do you think Nike would allow its dealers in Seoul to sell their sneakers here?

[BlazingArizona]

Foreign countries do not "dictate prices to drug companies". Single-payer countries like Canada simply buy large quantities of drugs at once. They choose not to buy if they don't like the price, just as I do when I buy bulk toilet paper at Walmart. Market forces being what they are, drug companies sell for less to these bulk buyers, just like any other business. Nobody is being "dictated to" here, except for the American consumer, who has to bend over and accept a monopoly high price for prescriptions.

I can buy a pair of Nike sneakers cheaper in Seoul than I can here. Do you think Nike would allow its dealers in Seoul to sell their sneakers here?

The only leverage Nike, or any other company has when it sells cheaper overseas is threatening to cancel its contract with the foreign customer if it sells out of its designated region. The US government does nothing to enforce the arrangement. But because the Internet acts as the great disintermediator, smoothing markets for goods all over the world, such arrangements are notoriously 'leaky'. An American (or other) consumer can always find some place willing to sell at the lowest price. The result is that American consumers enjoy the lowest prices in the world for most consumer goods, including those produced overseas. Asian electronics, cars, and cameras sell for less in the US than they do in their own countries. Such is the power of the marketplace.

Pharma sales are the exception: US law explicitly forbids shopping around by consumers, which is precisely why McCain is trying to get drug importation legalized. If pharma weren't a special case, there would be no need for this bill. And "public safety", my rosy pink butt. Since we're talking about the FDA-approved real thing here, not knockoffs, there is no differential in safety.