Cheaper drugs, auto registration considered

Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2004 | 11 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- In one move that are expected to be popular with consumers, Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, is proposing that vehicle owners get a $100 break on each registration.

In another, Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, is having a bill drafted to allow for the purchase of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada.

Buckley's proposal appears to be further along at this point. She has a bill being prepared for the 2005 Legislature that would allow Nevadans to buy their drugs from Canada at a major discount.

"The states are beginning this revolution and it's a wake up call to the federal government," Buckley said.

Five states currently permit purchase of drugs from Canada and seven others are considering it, she said. On brand name drugs, the savings could be 50-80 percent if purchased from Canada, she said.

Keith MacDonald, executive director of the state Pharmacy Board, said drugs purchased from a license pharmacy in Canada are safe as long as they are certified by Health Canada, which is similar to the Federal Drug Administration in the United States.

"The quality is as good as ours," said MacDonald whose agency regulates the pharmacy business in Nevada.

MacDonald said the FDA is opposed to the plans for U.S. citizens to buy drugs from Canada but it has not taken any disciplinary action against the five states that allow it.

Buckley's bill would also require state agencies such as the prisons and mental health to buy the cheaper drugs from Canada.

Gov. Kenny Guinn said he considered a Canadian drug plan a few years ago, but "it is not approved by the federal government." The governor has not seen the Buckley bill.

"Maybe her bill would say something to the effect that the plan meets the federal requirements, sometimes they do that," Guinn said. "So you would have a bill on there if something changes. They (the federal government) are looking at it constantly."

Guinn said Minnesota officials are arguing with the federal government now about the issue.

Buckley, who on Dec. 10 requested the bill be prepared, said New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota already have systems working to help their residents buy cheaper Canadian drugs. And planning is going on in seven other states to follow suit. She said the federal government has not imposed any penalties on those states.

Under the proposed law, a Web site would be set up under the state Consumer Health Assistance agency to inform Nevadans which licensed pharmacies in Canada could be used. And the individual could then order the drugs using the Internet.

Those without computers would be able to call a state number to get information and help in contacting the pharmacies in Canada.

Other states have a waiver in their laws, MacDonald said. The state would not be held liable in any suit if problems arose while taking the drug.

Most drugs are manufactured outside the United States, and the FDA approves their entry into the country, he said. But supplies of these drugs are shipped to other countries and sold as a lower price than in the United States.

Buckley said it doesn't make much sense for Nevadans to pay a high price for drugs that are much cheaper in other countries.

MacDonald said the pharmaceutical companies could restrict how much they distribute to Canada to put a crimp on export of the drugs. For instance, the companies could estimate how much is needed in Canada and then increase it by 10 percent.

Buckley said Nevada's Medicaid program, which supplies medical care and drugs to the needy, has entered into a pool with other states in which it is saving 19 percent on the purchases.

Chuck Duarte, director of the Medicaid program, said seven states are in the program and get rebates from the manufacturers. He said there are an estimated 2 million people in these states enrolled in Medicaid with about $3 billion in purchases being made.

While Buckley is pushing ahead with her plan to cut prescription costs Beers is suggesting that the state's expected $320 million surplus will be more than enough to allow the state to efffectively give back $100 on every motor vehicle registration in the state.

But Guinn, who is building the budget, said he is looking at his own priorities for allocating the surplus. Guinn reiterated his first priority is to put a "substantial" amount of money in the rainy day fund that was drained in 2003.

"Certainly Senator Beers can do like everybody else. You have got to remember that he alone and others can have all kinds of recommendations. All they have to do is go over there (the Legislature) and get a simple majority to agree with them and they can take the entire budget and do what they want with it."

"There are a lot of decisions to be made yet. ... Previously we cut $350 million out of our budget. Nobody is talking about putting it back," he said.

Guinn also said, "It's easy to go out and make a popular statement" like the one Beers made, but there are questions about fairness with such a proposal.

"If you give it to everybody who registers a car -- in what year? Do you give it to the person who moved here yesterday from New York or California? Those are all kinds of issues," Guinn said.

He said there is a question of the people who now must pay the $100 business tax and who don't register cars.