Photo source: Axios
On cost, the Grassley-Klobuchar would yield negligible savings at best. If the entire nation legalized drug importation, number crunchers at the Department of Health and Human Services predict that American drug spending would decrease by less than 1 percent.
On safety, the bill encourages prescription drug abuse. Legally, Canadian pharmacies can only fill scripts written by Canadian physicians. Creatively, some online pharmacies recruit local doctors to "co-sign" prescriptions for American patients. Writing a prescription for a patient one hasn't seen isn't just unethical; it invites fraud. This is especially worrisome given the rising prevalence of prescription drug misuse and abuse.
The bill also exposes Americans to dangerous counterfeits. It's estimated that 1 million people die at the hand of counterfeit drugs every year, many of which come from Canada.
Read more: Opinion: Grassley-Klobuchar proposal ushers in dangerous counterfeit drugs
