The high cost of prescription drugs is a significant obstacle to quality health care for so many people in this country.  Congress needs to help lower the cost of prescription drugs for all people and break the strangle-hold the pharmaceutical industry has on consumers.  I support drug re-importation as a way to give folks access to lower cost medications available across our borders and in doing so, increasing competition in the pharmaceutical industry. 

While folks in the United States are struggling to pay for medicine, those in other countries are paying 30 to 70 percent less for the same drug coverage.  This is not fair.  Many of the good people of East Tennessee continue to see their cost of prescription drugs skyrocket.  We need to strike a balance between the safety of drugs for our seniors and the constantly rising cost of prescription medicines. 

That is why I am an original cosponsor of H.R. 700 to give folks access to less expensive drugs in Europe and Canada.  This drug re-importation legislation would allow individuals not in the business of importing prescription drugs to import FDA-approved drugs from the European Union and Canada.  This does not apply to controlled substances, including narcotics.  I also support maintaining all current FDA rules regarding labeling and packaging. 

One of the reasons I voted against the final Medicare prescription drug bill was because provisions to allow drug re-importation were removed from the bill.  I look forward to working toward common sense solutions to meet the prescription drug needs of Americans while maintaining the stringent safety standards that we have in the U.S.