Continued increases in the cost of medications in the U.S. are a threat to the health of seniors and low-income individuals, and risk further burdening our health care system and American taxpayers who often foot the bill.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) noted that the amount the U.S. spent on pharmaceuticals per capita in 2011 was $985 per person, or more than twice than the $483 average for OECD countries. Further, spending on medications in the U.S. has reached an all-time high; in 2014 alone at a level of $374 billion according to an article from USA Today.

Consumer Reports found that some Americans take risks with needed drugs due to high costs. For example, one-third of those surveyed reported taking steps to curb high medication costs; this percentage was higher (57%) for those without a prescription benefit. Skipping filling prescriptions, altering doses, or cutting pills in half (non-adherence) drives up the cost of care not only for individuals who skip medications, but for everyone when individuals are back in the hospital unnecessarily.

These are only a few examples of the hardships Americans – particularly seniors, retirees, and others on fixed incomes – face.

We implore the President and Members of Congress to enact legislation – currently before Congress and previously introduced by a bipartisan set of Members of Congress – that would help fix this significant health care crisis.

We believe strongly in a program that establishes criteria for American consumers to safely import basic health maintenance prescriptions from Canada by: 
1) allowing consumers to purchase, with a valid prescription, a 90-day supply of prescription health maintenance drugs; 
2) requiring medications be dispensed by a licensed Canadian pharmacist; 
3) requiring prescriptions available for purchase have the same active ingredient(s), route of administration, and dosage form and strength as an FDA-approved drug; and 
4) not permitting certain types of drugs including controlled substances and biologics be imported under this program.

It is immoral and untenable that nearly a quarter of all Americans skipped medications or didn’t fill them because of the high cost. These exorbitant prices and excessive annual increases burden seniors, retirees, and low-income Americans – and thus strain our Medicare and Medicaid systems because of non-adherence to drug regimens, which leads to unnecessary – and avoidable – re-hospitalizations. Even a 2012 Congressional Budget Office report noted that access to affordable drugs resulted in reduced medication non-adherence.

Please help Americans who desperately need safe, affordable health maintenance drugs to be able to import them from a reliable partner in Canada.