With health care subsidies being slashed under Obama government and insurance premiums for health in the rise, US citizens are already struggling to meet the ends meet in filling their drug prescriptions. It is reported that approximately 25 million Americans are going without essential drugs they should be taking, simply because they cannot afford to buy it. Adding to these woes, there is talk of US government considering bringing in legislature that prohibits US citizens from purchasing drugs from non-US sources. While this may be a manifestation of strong lobbying by large US based drug manufacturers, the government needs to take a fair stance against this matter involving social welfare.
Most US citizens choose to purchase the drugs from the Canadian Online Pharmacies due to its lower prices and reliability they have experienced over the years. According to Big Mountain Drugs.com spokesperson, it is not uncommon for a prescription purchased through a Canadian online pharmacy to be 60% – 70% cheaper than ones being purchased in the US. With added coupon and loyalty reward programs, the savings can be as high as 80%. This large difference of price, combined with positive customer reviews attract many non Canadians from around the world, including US citizens to purchase from reliable and accredited Canadian online pharmacies. This is a major relief for especially those who are in the middle and lower income classes that have low insurance coverage and blue collar health benefit plans funded by state. If the prohibition of Canadian online pharmacies is allowed to be ratified, it will curtail the social benefits being derived by US citizens and incur a major social cost, says the spokesperson representing Online Canada pharmacies.
The main argument being put forth by those who support the proposed ban is that these drugs, manufactured outside of US are of substandard quality. However, points to note is that Canada has one of the most stringent of food and drug standards and quality assurance systems and the licensed online pharmacies are registered with the accrediting bodies to have a valid license to operate. The argument that what is cheap in price is cheap in quality too does not apply to Canadian online pharmacy products, simply because there are other justifiable reasons for the cheaper prices. Canada with its political stance being societal, impose price controls on branded as well as generic drugs and also allow for generic versions of paten drugs to come in to the market well before the entire patent period expires. All these factors, prompt major pharmaceutical firms to price their products extremely competitively in Canadian market. The benefits are passed on not only to the Canadian citizens but to people worldwide by online Canadian pharmacies that allow access to these cheaper priced high quality drugs.
Furthermore, up to 60% of drugs being sold in US are not produced in US as major international pharmaceutical firms choose production locations world over, based on low cost labor and infrastructure cost advantages. Scales of economies of catering to massive local markets such as China and India has prompted most FDA approved drugs being produced in locations as India. Thus, the argument that US citizens should be consuming drugs produced in US is not supporting the ban on purchasing form Canadian pharmacies.
There are organized lobbying taking place against the ratification of this legislature and bodies such as Pharmacy checker allow consumers to become an active part in the lobbying process. Logging in to the pharmacy checker site will allow access to further campaign details.