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Schweitzer introduces prescription drug plan
By Curtis Wackerle of The Montana Standard - 08/13/2004
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brian Schweitzer talks with Joan Stroup about his comprehensive prescription drug plan that he announced Thursday outside St. James Healthcare. Meghan Brown / The Montana Standard
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Decrying the hypocrisy of Congress for exempting prescription drugs from the free trade rules of NAFTA, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brian Schweitzer said Thursday that Montana pharmacists should be able to pool their resources and buy American-made drugs from Canada where the drugs are less expensive.
Schweitzer made his remarks in front of
St. James Healthcare as he unveiled his prescription drug plan should he win the governor's race this November. NAFTA is the North American Free Trade Agreement.
"Through NAFTA, logs, hogs and minerals" produced in the United States are allowed to be re-imported from Canada and Mexico, but prescription drugs are suspiciously exempt from these free trade rules, Schweitzer said.
One reason, Schweitzer said, is that more than
600 pharmaceutical industry lobbyists work in Washington, D.C.
"What is demonstrated here is the hypocrisy of Congress," Schweitzer said.
The perpetually rising costs of health care, specifically prescription drugs, is the number one concern of Montanans, Schweitzer has found as he has traveled the state, he said.
"No one should have to be forced to make decisions about whether or not to buy medicine," Schweitzer said.
He presented a
two-pronged plan that could save Montanans millions of dollars, he said.
Montana should join other states that have formed multi-state purchasing pools that negotiate lower prices from the pharmaceutical companies by buying in bulk, Schweitzer said.
Because American-made drugs sold in Canada cost as little at 25 percent of what they cost in the states, Montana pharmacists should be able to pool their resources and buy large quantities of drugs from Canada, passing those savings on to their customers, he said.
That way, the face-to-face relationship of pharmacists and their customers will be preserved and local economies will benefit, he said. That is far better than buying drugs out of catalogs, a practice that has lately become a common cost-saving alternative, he said.
Although the buying in bulk from Canada aspect of the plan is illegal, Schweitzer said that as
governor, he would compel Congress to "do the right thing" and let Montanans do whatever they can to lower prescription drug costs.
Butte resident Joan Stroup also spoke briefly at the press conference. Stroup is one of many Montana seniors who traveled with Schweitzer to Canada to buy cheaper prescription drugs. Schweitzer organized those trips during his unsuccessful senate campaign against Conrad Burns,
In the U.S., some of the medication Stroup takes costs $25 per pill, she said. In Mexico, Stroup bought the same medications for $4 per pill, she said.
"Can you imagine paying $25 per pill every time?" she said.
Reporter Curtis Wackerle can be reached at cdub035@msn.com or by phone at 496-5597.
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