Prescription costs in America have been so much higher than most, if not all, of the rest of the world.

Over the past couple of years, the high cost of various prescriptions here in America have made headline news. Those include the cost of insulin and Epi-Pens, among others. A number of diabetics have died, trying to ration out their insulin because of the high price, in some cases, over $1,000 a month. The cost of Epi-Pens jumped to $600, also putting the lives of many people with severe allergies in jeopardy every day of their lives.

More often than not, the pharmaceutical companies try to tell us that the costs are so high because of the cost of research and development of the drugs, but there is a major problem with that excuse. The same drugs are available at much cheaper prices in many other countries, including Canada and Mexico.

However, not all of the prescription drugs available in other countries are the same as those in the US. Some have other ingredients, fillers and often are not the same strength. The American people have been warned about purchasing medications from outside the US, but many did so anyway because they could not afford to buy the medications here in the States.

Obamacare initially promised to make prescription drugs more affordable, but in reality, many skyrocketed in costs.

Healthcare has already become one of the main agenda items for Democrats in the 2020 elections. Perhaps this is why President Trump has taken the action just announced to help lower the cost of prescription drugs here in America.

After receiving an email from The White House, I was directed to the following press release from the Department of Health and Human Services:

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today that HHS and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are publishing a Safe Importation Action Plan – PDF* that outlines two potential pathways that would lay the foundation for the safe importation of certain drugs originally intended for foreign markets.

“President Trump has been clear: for too long American patients have been paying exorbitantly high prices for prescription drugs that are made available to other countries at lower prices. When we released the President’s drug pricing blueprint – PDF for putting American patients first, we said we are open to all potential solutions to combat high drug prices that protect patient safety, are effective at delivering lower prices, and respect choice, innovation and access,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. “Today’s announcement outlines the pathways the Administration intends to explore to allow safe importation of certain prescription drugs to lower prices and reduce out of pocket costs for American patients. This is the next important step in the Administration’s work to end foreign freeloading and put American patients first.” 

So, how will we know if these imported medications are safe or same thing? According to the email I received, the FDA will be tasked with verifying that all imported medications are identical to those here in the US and that they meet specified safety standards.

Another point that needs to be made about steps taken to lower prescription costs during the Trump administration as reported in the same press release:

The FDA has delivered historic levels of generic drug approvals during the Trump Administration, with the Council of Economic Advisors estimating the savings generated from generic approvals in the first 18 months of the Trump Administration to be $26 billion. The Trump Administration’s drug pricing plan has also delivered the biggest 12-month decrease in over 50 years of the prescription drug component of the Consumer Price Index, the official government measure of drug price inflation.

One last thing, the free Medicare or healthcare for all is anything but free. Our taxes will drastically rise to pay for the free promises being made by many Democrats.