Health Affairs July 31, 2019
This morning, the Trump administration announced a plan that, if eventually finalized, would enable the importation of prescription drugs, primarily from Canada. This plan is part of the administration’s overall agenda to bring down prescription drug prices, and like the rest of that agenda it faces a number of potential roadblocks before it can be implemented.
In this post, I summarize the existing legal authority on the issue of drug importation and situate it within the administration’s broader efforts to lower prescription drug prices in the United States. Then, I explain the two strategies the administration laid out today to attempt to use that authority. Finally, I articulate a number of unanswered questions the administration will need to resolve...