A measure that would allow Texans im import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada passed out the state House nearly unanimously passed the state House last week.
HB 25, filed by two Democrats and three Republicans, with 118 cosponsors, passed the by a vote of 144 to 1, with four members not voting.
The bill would amend the state Health and Safety Code to create the Texas Wholesale Prescription Drug Importation Program. It would require the state Health and Human Services Commission to create the program in order to provide lower cost prescription drugs that Texans can access from Canada.
James Talarico, D-Round Rock, who was the lead sponsor of the bill, said he expected it to pass the Senate and be signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott.
Talarico also created a petition for Texans to sign to express their support for the bill.
“Texans are choosing between their medications and their rent,” Talarico said. “Their medications and their groceries. And many of them are choosing to go without their medications. The status quo is dangerously unsafe.”
“Americans pay the highest prescription drug prices in the world – higher than any other industrialized nation,” Talarico said in a series of statements posted on social media. “That’s why 42% of Texans ration or skip their doses. A quarter million Americans die every year from not taking their prescriptions.”
Allowing Texans to import less expensive drugs from Canada could save them 60% to nearly 80% on a range of medications from EpiPens to blood pressure medicines to cancer drugs, he said. He also posted a chart with examples of drugs and costs savings Texans could see through the program.
“Access to medicine is a human right,” Talarico said. “As a Type 1 diabetic, I passed legislation two years ago to cap insulin copays in Texas at $25 a month. This bill to import cheap prescription drugs from Canada is the next step toward guaranteeing health care for all Texans.”
The bill was filed in response to a proposal created by the Trump administration to lower prescription drug costs, allowing states to create a program to import prescription drugs from Canada. The Biden administration has reportedly instructed the FDA to work with states to implement these programs.
In order to participate, states must pass laws to allow for importation of drugs from Canada and then submit applications to the FDA for approval of their programs. Six states, led by Florida, have already done so, including Colorado, New Mexico, Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire.
The bill analysis points to the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing estimating its program will generate a 65% savings and the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration estimating its program would save Floridians $150 million a year.
Talarico said he hopes the passing of the bill will “get Texas to the front of the line” of states that have filed applications with the FDA. However, that may not expedite the process of FDA approval.
Two years after Florida filed its application with the FDA and didn’t hear anything back, including receiving no responses to Freedom of Information Act requests it filed, Florida sued last August.
“Florida has been ready to deliver cheaper prescription drugs to those that need them for nearly two years,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said when announcing the lawsuit. “The lack of transparency by the Biden administration during the approval process, and failure to provide records on the importation proposal, is costing Floridians who are facing rising prices across the board due to inflation. Florida is confident in our importation model, and we continue to look for more ways to lower drug costs for Floridians while the FDA delays approval of this importation proposal.”
In 2019, the Florida legislature passed a bill creating its program to lower prescription drug costs, which DeSantis signed into law. In November 2020, Florida’s AHCA submitted its proposal to HHS to consider and approve.
In late July 2020, HHS published its Safe Importation Action plan outlining measures it and the FDA would take to allow for the safe importation of certain prescription drugs. It published its final rule about the plan in November 2021, one year after Florida filed its application for approval.
“The reality is that people cannot wait upwards of two years to improve access to essential prescriptions,” Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo said when Florida filed its lawsuit. “Instead, the federal government is dragging their feet when Americans need affordable prescriptions, now more than ever.”
HB25 has been received in the Senate, which is expected to pass the bill.
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