Healthy Skepticism Library item: 1348

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Publication type: news

Miller J.
Hoekstra defends drug import proposal: Congressman supports plan to allow the re-importation of prescription drugs
The Holland Sentinel 2003 Jul 19

Full text:

U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra hopes a bill aimed at allowing the re-importation of U.S.-made prescription drugs from foreign countries will force drug companies to lower their prices in the United States.

Hoekstra, who has drawn criticism for his stand from the pharmaceutical industry and a prominent televangelist, said he doesn’t expect the legislation would actually lead to drugs being resold in the United States, but to a more reasonable pricing structure for prescription medications

“What you’ll see is a leveling off of prices,” Hoekstra, R-Holland, said in an interview Friday. “If citizens were allowed to buy their medications from Canada, American drug companies would have to come up with a reasonable pricing system.”

Hoekstra spoke on the House floor this week in support of H.R. 2427, the Pharmaceutical Market Access Act of 2003 and plans a news conference Monday to rebut what he called false information about his stance in local newspaper ads.

Among other arguments, opponents claim that re-importation would allow unsafe drugs that had left the control of U.S. pharmaceutical companies into the country and impose unofficial “price controls” on the industry that will retard research and product development.

Karen Kerrigan, chairwoman of a group called the Small Business Survival Committee, called the plan was a “congressional prescription for disaster,” in that unregulated drugs would not be subject to as stringent a level of safety screening as domestically controlled medications.

“These are drugs made by U.S. firms and subjected to extortion abroad by foreign price controls,” said Fred L. Smith Jr., president of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. “Re-importing those drugs means re-importing those price controls — a strategy that can only result in the destruction of the very industry that created those drugs in the first place.”

Others, including the Rev. Jerry Falwell, are also opposed to the bill, saying it would make it easier to import RU-486 — the “abortion pill,” — euthanasia pills and other illegal drugs into the United States.

Currently it is illegal, Hoekstra’s office said, for a Michigan resident to cross the border into Canada, buy prescription medications, then bring them back into the United States.

In essence, however, the bill would prompt drug companies to lower their costs and, Hoekstra hopes, tell American taxpayers why their prices are so high.

“That’s the dirty little question that the companies won’t answer,” Hoekstra said. “We’re at the point where we’re paying for the healthcare of the whole world because the drug makers won’t tell us why their prices are so high.”

Hoekstra said he introduced the bill because American taxpayers often bear the cost of research and development of the drugs, yet see those same drugs exported out of the country where they can be purchased at a lower cost.

“These are drugs largely developed through government-sponsored and U.S. taxpayer-funded research,” Hoekstra added. “In many instances, the government subsidizes the development and testing of new drugs.”

Responding to the concerns about abortion, Hoekstra pointed to what he called his “100 percent” voting record on right-to-life issues .

“In 10 1/2 years in Washington, I have never missed a vote to protect the unborn,” Hoekstra said. “This is not about drug safety. This is not about abortion. This is about American taxpayers being gouged by greedy drug companies.”