Senate OKs drug imports from Canada

WASHINGTON — The Senate opened the way Tuesday to let Americans import prescription drugs into the United States from Canada, seeking to ease a regulatory ban on cheaper medicine crossing the border.

The proposal, which was approved 68-32, would create a Canadian loophole in a Food and Drug Administration ban on importing prescription medicine into the United States. It was offered as part of a $31.7 billion Homeland Security Department spending blueprint for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

The department's Customs and Border Protection bureau began aggressively seizing incoming prescription medications at borders in November. Prescription drugs — even those manufactured in the United States — are generally cheaper in Canada.

"We should demand that [Customs and Border Protection] focus on the true priority that we face on the war on terror," said Sen. David Vitter, R-La., of efforts to secure U.S. borders. "Stripping small amounts of prescription drugs from the hands of seniors ... should not be a priority."

Vitter's plan, which was embraced by Democrats, would prohibit Customs and Border Protection from stopping people with doctors' prescriptions for FDA-approved drugs from bringing the medicine into this country from Canada.

But Republican leaders vociferously opposed the plan for fear, they said, that the drugs could be unsafe for consumers — or even present a terrorism risk.

"If I were a creative terrorist, I would say to myself, 'Hey, listen, all I've got to do is produce a can here that says "Lipitor" on it, make it look like the original Lipitor bottle, which isn't too hard to do, fill it with anthrax,' " said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H. Lipitor is a cholesterol-lowering drug.

Aides warned that the drug-import plan was likely to be stripped out of the legislation — as it has been in past years — when it gets to a conference of House and Senate lawmakers who will negotiate the final version. The Bush administration also has opposed efforts to loosen the restrictions.

In another development

The Bush administration projected Tuesday that Medicare premiums will rise more than 11 percent next year, from the current $88.50 to at least $98.40.

The projections assume that Congress will reduce Medicare payment rates for physicians by about 4.7 percent next year. Many analysts don't believe such a cut will occur, and that means the cost of the insurance would go higher than current projections.

Mark McClellan, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the higher premiums are being generated through an increase in the volume of care provided Medicare patients.