Importing drugs from Canada: Will lobbyists win or lose this round?

Artist: Robert Parada. Source: AARP

When a government is directly involved in health care, the sheer size of its purchasing power allows it to negotiate lower prices for drugs. That’s why drugs cost less in Canada over the Internet.
In the US, drug company lobbying is so powerful that it can convince Congress to prohibit the negotiation of discounts (the 2003 Medicare Prescription Drug Act). As if that weren’t enough, it’s illegal for Americans to order drugs from Canada. (You’re allowed to carry a 90-day supply over the border.)
President Obama has, in the past, favored changing legislation that prohibits drug purchases from Canada. (Congress calls this drug reimportation.) John McCain was in favor of change. (It’s a popular position when running for election.) Democrats have been advocating this change for years. Between 70 and 80 percent of Americans favor this option.

Drug companies, of course, continue to do all they can to oppose it. They have increased the number of lobbyists at state and federal levels. They have increased political campaign contributions. They’ve created front groups, such as CURES (Californians United for Research, Economic Development and Saving Lives), which is sponsored by a pharmaceutical lobbying group, California Healthcare Institute. Another front group is the California Latino Medical Association, which claims to represent Latino physicians, but is grateful to its “generous sponsors,” Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.

Could the tide be turning?

Yesterday the Senate approved a prescription drug plan that would allow Americans to order drugs from Canada over the Internet. The plan is contained in an amendment to a bill that provides funding for the Homeland Security Department. The drug plan amendment, sponsored and strongly supported by Senator David Vitter, passed by a vote of 55 to 36. The homeland security measure was approved by the Senate with a vote of 84 to six.
Senate Majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Dick Durbin of Illinois initially opposed the amendment, but changed their votes when it became clear the amendment would pass. That opposition may be a signal that the amendment won’t survive negotiation between the House and Senate. Even Senator Vitter said in an interview that the amendment is likely to be stripped from the final bill.

Or is it already too late?

Drug lobbyists are especially optimistic based on their Tuesday meeting at the White House, where they claim they were reassured that drug reimportation is off the table. The meeting was attended by that infamous lobbyist, Billy Tauzin, plus executives from Pfizer (second in lobbying dollars only to PhRMA), Amgen, Abbott Laboratories, and AstraZeneca. Tauzin claims that the reasoning from the While House is that if a health care bill passes, “the cost savings will be so great that reimportation will be unnecessary.”
My hunch is that it’s already too late. The Vitter amendment won’t survive. Once again Congress will allow itself to be bought by Big Pharma, just as it sold out to Big Tobacco for so many years. Aargh!

Related posts:
Jack Abramoff and healthcare lobbying
Big Pharma lobbies against health reform: Big time