A.G. Gancarski
On Thursday morning, the House Health and Human Services Committee moved legislation that would authorize a program importing Canadian drugs.
As this was the bill’s final committee stop, the legislation is now ready for the House floor.
The proposed program would be intergovernmental: administered by the Agency for Health Care Administration, pills from Health Canada would be brought in via the program.
As well, a second prong of the program would allow imports from other countries deemed to be safe by the federal Food and Drug Administration.
The federal government would have to approve this arrangement, per the legislation.
Rep. Tom Leek, the Ormond Beach Republican sponsoring HB 19, noted that “health care is big business.”
“You can’t turn on the TV,” Leek said, without seeing commercials for drugs.
Health care spending is escalating, Leek added, and drug prices are escalating at eight times inflation.
“We’ve been buying what they’ve been selling,” Leek added. “Today they’re going to try to sell you on the idea that only their drugs are safe … and the drugs they manufacture in Canada aren’t fit for American consumption.”
Government regulation, Leek continued, puts “profits over patients.”
Leek noted that Congress already approved imports of Canadian drugs in 2003. He added that while some provinces wouldn’t cooperate with an export scheme, others would.
Amendments to the bill at this stop included a removal of veterinary drugs in both the Canadian and international programs.
Opposition came from a myriad of stakeholder groups.
The Partnership for Safe Medicine spotlighted “the danger of counterfeit medicines,” noting that none of the other eight programs in the country saved money in their “short run[s].”
The counterfeit medicine trope, combined with the dread specter of “adulterated” medicine from nefarious foreign ports, enlivened testimony from other stakeholder groups in opposition.
American Senior Alliance executive director Conwell Hooper painted a nightmare scenario: one of those seniors passing away at the hands of a counterfeit pill.
However, Bill Hepscher, who owns an online pharmacy in Zephyrhills brokering Canadian pills, noted that for over a decade, he has been selling these pills to seniors and others on a budget without adverse medical incident.
Democrats, such as Rep. Shevrin Jones, expressed “grave concerns” about this program. But with Gov. Ron DeSantis and Speaker José R. Oliva backing the bill, Democratic voices would not prevail.
“This is a weapon we can use to attack high drug prices … Florida should lead the way,” asserted Port Charlotte Republican Michael Grant.
The legislation still has a way to go in the Senate, with two committee stops ahead before consideration by the full body.
