On Tuesday, the Rhode Island Senate approved a bill that seeks to lower prescription drug costs for Rhode Islanders by importing lower-cost medications from Canada.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Louis DiPalma (D-Dist. 12, Middletown, Little Compton, Newport, Tiverton) proposed the Wholesale Prescription Drug Importation Program, which would establish a system for importing prescription drugs from Canada. The program is intended to benefit Rhode Islanders struggling with the cost of prescription drugs.
“We have a very serious problem in this state with far too many of our residents foregoing their vital medication due to the rising costs of their medicine,” DiPalma said. “It’s unconscionable that so many Rhode Islanders, particularly our elderly, are forced to make the choice between food or medicine, or between housing and energy costs or medicine. This is no way for our residents to live their lives and this legislation will have a big impact on prescription drug affordability in Rhode Island. The fact that identical drugs are so much cheaper across the border in Canada is a clear demonstration of the dysfunction in our healthcare system, but until extensive and much-needed reform takes place, this legislation should ease the costs on many Rhode Islanders so they don’t have to make these heartbreaking choices every month”.
To be eligible for the program, medications must be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and be cheaper in Canada.
The legislation is awaiting further consideration in the Rhode Island House of Representatives.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) assisted a What’sUpNewp journalist with the reporting included in this story.
