The Food and Drug Administration has decided to allow Florida to import millions of dollars worth of medications from Canada at far lower prices than in the United States, overriding fierce decades-long objections from the pharmaceutical industry, according to a senior administration official.
The approval is a major policy shift for the United States, and supporters hope it will be a significant step forward in the long and largely unsuccessful effort to reign in drug prices. Individuals in the United States are allowed to buy directly from Canadian pharmacies, but states have long wanted to be able to purchase medicines in bulk for their Medicaid programs, government clinics and prisons from Canadian wholesalers.
Florida has estimated that it could save up to $150 million in its first year of the program, importing medicines that treat H.I.V., AIDS, diabetes, hepatitis C and psychiatric conditions. Other states have applied to the F.D.A. to set up similar programs.
It should be blocked because Florida is trying to solve a political and economic problem they created and they can solve on their own by instead taking advantage of others that did all the work they were supposed to do and still refuse to do.
It’s like having a neighbor with weird conspiracy theories who says they don’t trust the town water system, won’t pay for it and won’t use it, disconnects it from their house … but then asks you to send them a garden hose to their enormous house so that they can have water and never thinks that you now have to pay extra to provide them with water service … and they never acknowledge that they are still using the same tap water!