Monday, May 03, 2004
"Cheap drugs make for good politics, but poor economics"
[Sally C. Pipes, "AARP Bad Medicine: A Few Will Benefit, Many More Will Pay," Investor's Business Daily, 15 April 2004.]
Pacific Research Institute President Sally Pipes takes the AARP to task for it's media blitz in favor of reimporting Canadian prescription drugs:
AARP, the nation's largest special-interest group, may well tell its senior membership that all it takes to make drugs cheaper is to send them over the border and bring them back again.
But the organization is really just extracting benefits for the few at the cost of depriving the many; that's bad policy in the long run.
A 2001 Canadian study concluded that 75% of the 27 most popular generic drugs were significantly cheaper in the U.S. One good example is generic Prozac -- $13.19 for 100 20-mg pills in the U.S. The next lowest price in any other nation is a sticker-shock $49.78 for 100 pills.
The reality of socialist medicine is vastly different from the promise. If there were any truth in advertising, AARP's commercials would show a desperate Canadian suffering from AIDS, Hepatitis C or arthritis.
Take it from me -- a Canadian -- America doesn't want Canada's price controls, at any cost.
[Sally C. Pipes, "AARP Bad Medicine: A Few Will Benefit, Many More Will Pay," Investor's Business Daily, 15 April 2004.]
Pacific Research Institute President Sally Pipes takes the AARP to task for it's media blitz in favor of reimporting Canadian prescription drugs:
AARP, the nation's largest special-interest group, may well tell its senior membership that all it takes to make drugs cheaper is to send them over the border and bring them back again.
But the organization is really just extracting benefits for the few at the cost of depriving the many; that's bad policy in the long run.
A 2001 Canadian study concluded that 75% of the 27 most popular generic drugs were significantly cheaper in the U.S. One good example is generic Prozac -- $13.19 for 100 20-mg pills in the U.S. The next lowest price in any other nation is a sticker-shock $49.78 for 100 pills.
The reality of socialist medicine is vastly different from the promise. If there were any truth in advertising, AARP's commercials would show a desperate Canadian suffering from AIDS, Hepatitis C or arthritis.
Take it from me -- a Canadian -- America doesn't want Canada's price controls, at any cost.
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