Prescription drugs from Canada could be on the way
Gov. Ron DeSantis, acting on one of his top priorities during his first year in office, signed into law Tuesday a measure that gives the state the go-ahead to pursue approval to import prescription drugs from Canada and other countries.
But the Republican governor acknowledged at a bill-signing ceremony at The Villages that the program won’t running any time soon because of a requirement that it receive approval from federal authorities.
“We are already working directly with Health and Human Services at the federal level, and I’m going to be talking with the president next week maybe more about it,” DeSantis said. “We envision maybe this taking ‘til next year for us to do it.”
DeSantis, who won the governor’s race with the support of President Donald Trump, has insisted his close relationship with Trump would help win over skeptical federal officials who have refused to endorse similar proposals from other states.
U.S. Rep. Donna Shalala, a Miami-Dade County Democrat and a former Health and Human Services secretary, said the plan was the “silliest thing I have ever heard of ” and called it “pure politics.”
She also predicted it wouldn’t be approved.
“No Health and Human Services secretary has ever approved the importation of drugs because of safety,” Shalala, who led the agency under President Bill Clinton, told reporters at the Florida Democratic Party’s annual Leadership Blue event in Orlando.
The new law would allow Florida to establish Canadian and international drug-importation programs. The Canadian program would be under the auspices of the state Agency for Health Care Administration and would be focused on importing drugs for programs such as Medicaid, the Department of Corrections and county health departments.
The second program, an international drug importation program, would be geared to the broader state population and would be established under the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
DeSantis signed the bill into law Tuesday at The Villages, a sprawling retirement community in Central Florida. DeSantis was joined by House Speaker Jose Oliva, a Miami Lakes Republican who was a key player in passing the bill. Oliva praised DeSantis for supporting the measure despite tremendous lobbying efforts by “big pharma,” which Oliva called the ‘greatest force in America.”
“The governor never flinched once. Everyone lobbied up,” Oliva told the crowd. “Tallahassee was inundated with special interests. Not once did he shake. And we were able to get this bill done.”
While efforts to kill the legislation in Florida were unsuccessful, pharmaceutical interests have vowed to lobby against the plan in Washington, D.C.
Shalala, however, said it wasn’t just about getting the federal government to agree to the plan. Canada also would have to agree to work with Florida, and the chances of that happening, Shalala said, are nil.