Senators Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and Rand Paul were among 9 Republicans who sided with the amendment. But 13 Democrats crossed over to kill the consumer empowerment measure.
In the late night vote-a-rama of Wednesday, A Minnesota senator pressed an amendment to a healthcare bill which involves the ability of uninsured consumers to leverage their limited assets by purchasing maintenance medications from Winnipeg pharmacies and other sources. This is one issue which eventually ended the political career of former 1st District Congressman, John Sullivan. It seems Jim Inhofe and James Lankford are going down the same path of taking Pharmaceutical lobbyists' money in exchange for placing an import ban on drugs made in America, but reimported back into the country at generic prices. The standard defense is that safety standards are not assured by our own FDA. But that doesn't stop Swiss chocolates from being purchased over the internet, does it? The US consumers actually subsidize low Canadian prices because pharmaceutical corporations have obtained extended patent rights in the US. market. In the USA, they have 143% more time to recoup their investment. Many other nations allow generics to produce identical products after the first 7 years. But the USA expends the trade protectionist term to 17 years and even allows the medicine to apply for a second 17 year patent protection. |
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Sooner Politics
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