Washington, DC — Today, the Department of Health and Human Services announced a draft proposal to potentially allow Americans, after a years-long regulatory process and action by individual states, to import select prescription drugs from Canada. According to reporting from Politico, the draft plan has no actual implementation date and excludes “biologics such as insulin and the popular drug HUMIRA to treat rheumatoid arthritis.” Protect Our Care Executive Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement in response:
“The draft plan released by the Trump administration is riddled with loopholes large enough for drug companies to drive a truck through. If President Trump was serious about standing up to drug companies and lowering costs, he wouldn’t have threatened to veto the plan passed by the House that gives Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices for Americans on Medicare and private insurance. From reversing his position on Medicare drug negotiations, filling a lawsuit against health care that would raise drug prices, and giving out hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to Big Pharma, Trump has proven time and again his allegiance to drug companies over the American people. It’s beyond evident that when it comes to lowering drug prices, Donald Trump continues to be long on rhetoric and empty on results.”