Importation

Senator Kohl has long been concerned about the high cost of prescription drugs, which can make it hard for seniors to afford the medicines they need. Today, Americans pay substantially higher prices for the same medicines that are far less expensive in many other industrialized countries. Due to steady increases in the cost of prescription drugs, many Americans have resorted to buying their prescription drugs from Canadian pharmacies. Senator Kohl believes that it is not fair to ask Americans to pay higher prices for the same medicines that cost a fraction of the price in other countries.

That is why he is a cosponsor of S. 242, the "Pharmaceutical Market Access and Drug Safety Act of 2007," to allow American consumers, pharmacies, and drug wholesalers to import FDA-approved prescription drugs at substantially lower prices available on the world market. The CBO estimates that this legislation will result in $50 billion in direct savings over the next decade, with $6.1 billion of that in savings to the federal government.