 |
 |
Please read and consider: This is a big issue for many of us who do not have drug coverage and who have spent-down all of our savings and even my retirement fund being sick and relentlessly having to come up with over $500/month and growing just to be medicated forever! Besides the First Lady, Clinton wants to add drug coverage for medicare for say half the cost, plus help for seniors who have expensive drugs--half the cost of a drug here is in some cases many times the cost in Canada! (It is not likely that Clinton will get this unless it can be a wedge issue in the campaign.) To use the examples from the article: Tamoxifen. A three-month supply in the U.S. costs $390, compared to $50 (U.S.)---half of $390= $180 vs $50 in Canada!! The world's best-selling heartburn medicine, Prilosec, costs $3.30 (U.S.) for one pill in America, compared to $1.47 in Canada. The cholesterol-control drug Zocor is $3.16 for one tablet, but $1.47 in Canada I paid over $200 for Prilosec, which my doctor said I MUST take -- half the cost is still over $100 / month!! I only took it for 1 month. My pd drugs take priority, even though my doctor says that chronic heartburn, GERD, can cause esophogeal cancer. So I take 4-6 times the recommended dose of OTC Zantec at a monthly cost of what canadians pay for Prilosec!! And still what I'm taking isn't nearly as effective as Prilosec! So, let's generate ideas on how to speak up, example: Let's all copy this letter and the prices of our PD and other drugs, and send them to the Drug cos. I can gather up many of the drug company e-addesses and post them for you to use. While we're at it, does anybody want to help me set up a Web site focused on this issue and one or two other challenges to the drug industry? Charlotte Jorge A Romero wrote: > February 9, 2000 > > First lady blasts drug costs in U.S. > > Wants to lift ban on importing cheaper medicine from Canada > > By Kathleen Kenna > Toronto Star Washington Bureau > > ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Americans risk their lives and savings because they > can't afford the same drugs available in Canada at much lower prices, > Hillary Rodham Clinton charges. > > In what is quickly becoming a major election issue in the United States, > Rodham Clinton yesterday blasted pharmaceutical giants for drug prices > so inflated that Americans must choose between bankruptcy or > treatment. > > She indirectly praised Canada for saving sick Americans who can't afford > life-saving drugs and vowed to fight for laws lifting a ban on drug exports > from Canada. > > ``People in our country are paying the highest prices in the world for the > exact same drugs that others are finding at much lower prices across the > border in Canada,'' Rodham Clinton told a crowd of 400 at a research > hospital here. > > ``Every day, thousands of our citizens cross the border to buy drugs at a > fraction of the cost,'' she said. ``These drugs are made in the exact same > factories, factories most often owned by U.S. pharmaceutical companies. > The only difference is Americans are paying more in the retail cost than > the rest of the world pays in wholesale cost.'' > > Current U.S. law bans drug imports from other countries, even if they > cost less and are made by American-owned firms. Consumer groups have > made this an issue in the presidential campaign, recently taking busloads > of Americans into Canada to show how easy it is to get cheaper drugs. > > ``Prescription drugs are a necessity and yet they are priced as a luxury,'' > Rodham Clinton said to loud applause. ``Their costs are rising at 12 per > cent a year, faster than any other part of our health-care system. While > our drug prices go through the roof, it's often the health of our most > vulnerable citizens that plummets. > > ``That's wrong . . . and it must stop,'' she told an audience comprised > mostly of health professionals and medical students. > > Rodham Clinton, who formally launched her campaign for the U.S. > Senate on Sunday, said her year-long ``listening tour'' of New York state > was dominated by desperate stories of people unable to buy drugs that > would make the difference between ``sickness or health, life or death.'' > > ``They tell me they are forced to choose between paying for drugs and > paying for food or rent or oil for heating and other lifelines,'' she said. > > ``Why are drug costs breaking the budgets, the hearts and the health of > so many Americans? Some of the reason, frankly, is advertising.'' > > ``Big Pharm,'' as it's dubbed in the U.S., spends an estimated $1.8 billion > (U.S.) a year in advertising. As a result, the top 10 most advertised drugs > are responsible for 20 per cent of the increase in prescription drug > spending since 1993, Rodham Clinton said. > > ``We are the only industrialized nation in the world that permits > prescription drugs to be advertised directly to the consumer on TV and in > print.'' > > Two examples cited by Rodham Clinton included the new breast cancer > drug, Tamoxifen. A three-month supply in the U.S. costs $390, > compared to $50 (U.S.) in Canada. The allergy drug Claritin is $2 per pill > in the states but $1 in Canada. > > Aides distributed a price chart in U.S. dollars showing a huge disparity in > the price of cross-border drugs: > The world's best-selling heartburn medicine, Prilosec, costs $3.30 (U.S.) > for one pill in America, compared to $1.47 in Canada. The > cholesterol-control drug Zocor is $3.16 for one tablet, but $1.47 in > Canada. > > Rodham Clinton vowed to work for a law that would allow American > pharmacists, health-care institutions and distributors to import drugs > from Canada that are approved by the U.S. Drug Administration. > > ``You will never again have to choose between bankruptcy and health > when it comes to prescription drugs.'' > > Rodham Clinton was vilified in the U.S. during her husband's first term as > president because she led a mission to adopt Canadian-style health care. > Critics attacked her plan as too costly and socialistic. > > There are 45 million Americans without health coverage, including 11 > million children. -- Charlotte A. Mancuso *************************************************** For advocacy, medical, and other PD-related material, go to: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/CurePD-NorCal