Good News

This blog's stated goal is pointing out the bad things Congress does. Frankly this is an easy job. I usually have to pick and choose between several bad bills and resolutions. I might pick one that is to me the most outrageous of the day, but more often I pick one that tickles my fancy and inspires me at the moment.

Today however, I am going to highlight a bill that surprised me by offering something positive. If you've read my posts, you've noticed a trend -- I'm a free market advocate. Today's bill would move our prescription drug market in that direction. It is far from perfect, but more on that later. For now, here is the bill summary and a link to more detailed information since the full text is not yet available on the LOC website.

H.R.1298 : To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with respect to the importation of prescription drugs, and for other purposes.
Co-Sponsors: Rep Berry, Marion [AR-1], Rep Emerson, Jo Ann [MO-8] (introduced 3/4/2009)
Committees: House Energy and Commerce
Latest Major Action: 3/4/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Click here to read an article describing some details of the bill at arkansasmatters.com.

What this bill does, as the linked article makes clear, is to allow importation of prescription drugs from Canada and a short list of other countries. According to the GAO it will save $50 billion over the next decade with more than $6 billion of that being governmental budget savings. Presumably the rest of the savings would be experienced by patient-customers. To be sure, the bill retains lots of nanny-state protections for customers and drug companies, but it is a step in the right direction.

Besides the idea that it doesn't go far enough, the one concern I do have about this bill is this... most if not all of the drugs allowed to be imported are drugs originally produced here in the United States now and sold cheaper internationally because the drug companies are getting most of their profits here at home. I suspect that if this bill passes, the drug companies will simply change the pricing so the price disparity no longer makes it advantageous to order from international suppliers. This would of course lower our costs and be a good thing, but I suspect the GAO hasn't taken this dynamic into consideration, thus the savings will be less than advertised.

What would really save us a lot of money would be doing what libertarian-minded people like Harry Browne and Ron Paul have suggested -- eliminating the FDA completely or drastically changing the way it operates, leaving drug safety to private agencies much like UL monitors electrical appliance safety without tax money.