Chicago
An Illinois study released this week concluded that the state government could save $91 million a year by buying prescription drugs from Canada for state employees. Illinois is leading a pack of local and state governments lobbying for the right to import medicine from Canada, where government controls make the average prescription 40 percent cheaper than in the U.S. Federal health officials said they had no intention of lifting a ban on imported drugs, because U.S. inspectors cannot ensure that drugs from abroad are safe. But Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich said that Canadian safety regulations were more than adequate to protect patients from expired and counterfeit drugs. “It’s hard to stop an idea whose time has come,” Blagojevich said.
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