When Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB19 into law in June 2019, he said that Florida was leading “the way toward affordable prescription drugs,” but over the past three years not a single person has received even one pill imported from Canada, and the state has spent millions. After the state’s Request for Proposal failed to attract even a single bidder, Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration agreed to pay $38.8 million to Life Science Logistics (LSL) to “provide services necessary for the implementation, operation, and management of the Canadian Prescription Drug Importation Program.”

The non-competitive contract had Florida pay LifeScience Logistics $9.8 million over seven months to set up the warehouses, and then $1.2 million monthly to maintain it. This empty warehouse has already cost Florida over $27.9 million.  As of October 1, 2022, Florida only has less than a year before LSL’s contract expires. It’s very possible that the state will pay almost $40 million without ever importing any medication. Why didn’t Florida wait until they had approval for importing drugs before spending this money? We’ll never know.