Prescription drugs will soon be cheaper for residents of Wisconsin and Illinois.
Monday, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel announced the launch of a new prescription drug importation plan called I-Save Rx.
The program allows residents of the two states to order prescription drugs online for much cheaper prices. The cost of drugs is generally less expensive in Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland — the countries approved for importation.
“There’s no reason why our citizens should have to pay twice as much for safe prescription medicines as the rest of the world, but that’s exactly the situation we’re in because the federal government refuses to take on the drug companies,” Doyle said in a release about the program launch.
Drug prescriptions from approved countries can be as much as half the cost of prescriptions in the United States.
While Republican and Democratic viewpoints may differ on how to aid the rising cost of prescription drugs, Steve Baas, a communications director for Wisconsin State Assembly Speaker John Gard (R-Peshtigo), believes both parties generally share the same goals when it comes to prescription drugs.
“I think we all share a goal to make prescription drugs as affordable and available as possible and our concern is to ensure that the quality and the safety of those drugs is protected in whatever plan we have,” Baas said.
Some are worried because Wisconsin and Illinois will be the first states in the nation to allow for the importation of prescription drugs.
“I think we need to be concerned with the legality of it so we don’t open the state up to lawsuits and financial liability because we are breaking federal law,” Baas said.
Gov. Blagojevich is contacting other governors about the program and hopes Illinois and Wisconsin can lead the nation in expanding drug coverage.
“Wisconsin and Illinois are leading the nation in providing their citizens with access to safe, affordable prescription drugs and saving taxpayers millions of dollars,” said Emanuel in the press release Monday. “This is a prairie-fire building across America.”
The price of prescription drugs has increased for many years, which may be cumbersome for senior citizens who take medicine frequently. As senior citizens tend to vote in large numbers, the cost of prescription drugs is a hot political issue.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Michels supports the drug importation program. He says he differs on this issue from Democratic incumbent Sen. Russ Feingold.
According to the Michels campaign website, Feingold claims to tout the importation of drugs as a good thing but has voted against expanding prescription drug coverage several times.
The Feingold campaign website counters with the argument that Feingold has been a leader on the issue of prescription drugs.
According to his website, Sen. Feingold was one of the co-sponsors of the Pharmaceutical Market Access Act of 2003. The Act sought to allow Americans to import prescription drugs from other countries. Feingold campaign managers say that Michel’s accusations are extremely misleading.
