So much for President Donald Trump’s “America first” motto.
Trump’s Health and Human Services department unveiled a plan on Wednesday that would “lay the foundation for the safe importation of certain drugs originally intended for foreign markets.”
Under the new plan, Americans would be allowed to import FDA-approved prescription drugs from Canada at a lower price than those sold in the U.S.
HHS Secretary Alex Azar claimed the plan was a pathway to ending “foreign freeloading.”
“Today’s announcement outlines the pathways the Administration intends to explore to allow safe importation of certain prescription drugs to lower prices and reduce out of pocket costs for American patients,” he said in a press release. “This is the next important step in the Administration’s work to end foreign freeloading and put American patients first.”
Americans have been traveling to Canada for drugs like insulin when the cost is too high to obtain them in the U.S. This plan would ostensibly make it easier for Americans to obtain cheaper drugs without having to cross the border.
