Look, GOP critics of re-importation are exactly right in one basic point: the reason "Canadian" drugs--most of which were originally produced in the U.S.--are so much cheaper, is simply that the Canadian government puts legal price controls on them. So the whole idea of re-importing them is just a backdoor way of trying to benefit from a government's price controls without having the stones to actually adopt them ourselves. Think about it: how inefficient is it for a country of nearly 300 million to provide medicine for its citisens by shipping pharmaceuticals through Customs to a neigbouring country with less than a tenth of our population, then back through Customs again (after whatever intermediate time spent with various middlemen) to be distributed here?
Unlike the Republican critics, though, I'm not sticking up for the profit prerogative of Big Pharma...(continued on the flip)
I think their profits are obscene, especially given the amount they spend on advertising and slimy "drug reps". In my ideal world, all of those things (profits, and marketing other than sending out factual dossiers on a product's testing) would be outlawed when it comes to providing health care. But even in a more realistic world, can't we institute price controls ourselves, and have the government do more of the heavy lifting in terms of R&D? Makes a lot more sense than this crazy backdoor re-importation scheme, if you ask me.