Drug Importation in Connecticut: An Overview
Synopsis:
The Connecticut legislature has not yet advanced bills that have been introduced to legalized importation of drugs from Canada. However, in 2019 the state budgeted funds for the Department of Consumer Protection to hire a project manager to submit a request for approval for a Canadian Prescription Drug Importation Program to the federal Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Current status:
Budget documents indicate that Connecticut will be submitting an importation plan to the Department of Health and Human Services in 2020 or 2021.
How should we evaluate this program?
The program hasn't started yet, or even been designed, so there's no way to measure whether it saved money or kept patients safe, both promises made at the time of passage. However, the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act contains requirements for safety requirements built into any such program.
Official actions and statements
Connecticut has made no official statements regarding importation.
Background / resources
Learn more about
- The Drug Importation Debate
- Fake Medicine in Connecticut
- The Importance of U.S. Closed Drug Supply Chain
Testimony Opposing Importation
- Testimony of Shabbir Imber Safdar, PSM Executive Director at Connecticut's Health Care Affordability Informational Forum, November 14, 2019
Op-eds from the Experts
On June 23, 2017, MorningConsult published this editorial by Garfield Clunie and Richard Williams. Clunie is the chairman of the board of the National Medical Association, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit that represents African American physicians and their patients. Williams is the organization’s president.
Pharmacy boards, which ensure the safety of prescription medicines at the state level, have been sending letters to Congress to expressing significant safety concerns about legislation that would legalize drug importation.
The Salt Lake Tribune printed this editorial by Tom Ridge, the 43rd governor of Pennsylvania and first secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, on June 10, 2017. Ridge is currently a senior advisor to Americans for Securing All Packages (ASAP).
This editorial was published by the Institute for Policy Innovation on June 5, 2017. Its author, Dr. Merrill Matthews, is a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation, a health policy expert and contributor at Forbes.com. He also serves on the Texas Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Ali Schroer wrote this editorial for the Washington Examiner on May 10, 2017.
Like millions of Americans, I take allergy medicine. A few years ago, my doctor urged me to bid farewell to my local pharmacy and instead buy my medication from an online Canadian drug store, where it was cheaper. What terrible advice! The website was counterfeit and sent me “medicine” that was anything but — causing me to get severely sick . . .
Ronald Piervincenzi, CEO of the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention describes the dangerous flaws in any plan to open up U.S. borders to wholesale prescription medication importation from Canada.
On Tuesday, February 28, Allan Coukell, Senior Director of Health Programs for the Pew Charitable Trusts, wrote Senator Bernie Sanders to ask that he not undermine safety protections for medication with the Affordable and Safe Prescription Drug Importation Act.
In 2016, the American Medical Association reaffirmed its longheld opposition to drug importation through two policy statements. The first, “Prescription Drug Importation and Patient Safety D-100.983,” supports only the importation of FDA-approved medicines. The second, “Federal Regulation and Computerized Tracking of Pharmaceuticals During Shipping and Handling from Manufacture Until Ultimately Received by Patient D-100.985,” promised to actively oppose drug diversion, illegal importation, and drug counterfeiting.
In May 2004, anesthesiologist and American Medical Association trustee Rebecca J. Patchin, MD spoke before the Department of Health and Human Services Task Force on Drug Importation to express concern about the safety and reliability of imported drugs.
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