Replies

First-year Democratic Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the former Clinton White House aide elected to Congress from Chicago last year, and Rep. Gil Gutknecht, a conservative Republican from southern Minnesota, plan to visit each other's districts to conduct bipartisan townhall meetings on health care. They are co-sponsoring an amendment that would give Americans access to cheaper name-brand drugs across the border in Canada. With House Republican leaders blocking the Emanuel-Gutknecht amendment, Gutknecht defied the party line and voted against the prescription drug bill. Emanuel also voted against the bill, along with most Democrats. At the townhall meetings in Chicago and Minnesota, the congressmen will promote their amendment as a free-standing bill.

Can someone out there in Free Republic land give me a compelling reason why we shouldn't be in favor of the reimportation of these drugs from Canada? I am all in favor of the Prescription Drug Companies experiencing a nice profit but I'm also for the free market working and it seems to me that this is a nice free market tactic, one that is better than some of the shenanigans practices by the drug companies to re-up their patents after they have expired.

Of course, you should be allowed to import drugs. FYI, however, drugs are not radically less in Canada. Certain drugs are cheaper in Canada, and Certain are cheaper in the US. The press of course always focuses on the ones that are cheaper in Canada. After all, who would be interested in a story that says "Taxoblabfil cheaper in the US than it is in Canada. You are not getting shafted!"