Summary

Florida’s plan to import lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada remains stalled nearly a year after FDA approval, with no timeline for implementation.

Despite Governor Ron DeSantis’ claims of victory over the drug industry, operational hurdles and resistance from Canadian officials, who fear domestic shortages, have hindered progress.

Florida has spent over $50 million on the program, meant to reduce costs for state agencies like Medicaid, but no drugs have been imported.

Critics highlight logistical complexities and minor projected savings, while similar efforts in other states, like Colorado, also face delays.

  • Verdant Banana@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Politicians ranging from conservatives such as DeSantis to liberals such as Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont have long pushed for importing lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada.

    if both sides want cheaper drugs why not work together to make that happen by regulating big pharma and pushing for things like universal healthcare

    fact that they don’t just proves where their paychecks come from

    • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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      23 hours ago

      Difference is that Bernie is going after it as a consolation prize since neither major party want to do either of the things you so rightfully advocate for, while DeSantis only wants to pretend in order to not lose the votes of people who can’t afford medicine.

  • aramis87@fedia.io
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    1 day ago

    So he wants to import socialism from other countries? Doesn’t sound very American of him.

    • nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca
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      22 hours ago

      You don’t need anything resembling coherent “socialism” for this. Canada gets better drug prices because they negotiate for drugs collectively. That’s it. That’s what you have to do. That’s literally it. Marx would find it hilarious and sad that this is what is being characterized as “socialism”.

    • buttfarts
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      20 hours ago

      Seriously… Do you know what Canada does? The gov’t buys wholesale from pharmaceutical companies. That’s it. The Canadian gov’t runs a drug Costco on behalf of its citizens and we all save.

      Why doesn’t Florida just negotiate their own wholesale drug prices from the manufacturers on its own? Why does it need Canada to do that for them?

    • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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      23 hours ago

      No, he wants to pretend to make meds cheaper in order to court fascists that can’t afford meds but otherwise are on board with his bigoted demagoguery.

  • tootoughtoremember@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

    the government in Ottawa has warned it won’t allow medicines to be exported if Canadians could experience shortages as a result.

    The Canadian government looking out for Canadians. Maybe the American government should look closer at why drug prices are lower in Canada and rather than just try to buy Canadian? We’ve all got aging populations, this problem is only going to get worse, and any change won’t be implemented overnight. Would have been a great campaign issue to run on, rather than small business tax cuts and building a border wall.

  • Snapz@lemmy.world
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    21 hours ago

    Keep looking to chuds to save you, other chuds. Chocolate rations have gone up from 10 to 8.

      • TachyonTele@lemm.ee
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        22 hours ago

        You seriously want random videos to start playing when you look at a post? That’s one of the worst things websites do.

        • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
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          22 hours ago

          I’ve got my ublock mostly taking care of those. Very few slip through these days, and it’s typically when a website changes their design/layaout.

          • TachyonTele@lemm.ee
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            22 hours ago

            Right, because you don’t want videos to autoplay when you go to a website.

            This site should not have autoplay videos either.