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24 • OCTOBER 2020 - Senior Voice of Citrus County
CANADA
continued from page 22
The practice has been
especially common in retiree-
rich Florida, where more than
a dozen stores help consumers
make the purchases and
where numerous cities,
counties and school districts
assist employees with the
transactions.
The administration envisions
a system in which a
Canadian-licensed wholesaler million annually.
buys from a manufacturer of
drugs approved for sale in
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Canada and exports the drugs be geared to the broader state
to a U.S. wholesaler/importer
under contract to a state.
Florida’s legislation —
approved in 2019 — would
set up two importation
programs. The first would
focus on getting drugs for
state programs such as
Medicaid, the Department of
Corrections and county health
departments. State officials
said they expect the program
to save the state about $150
The second program would
population.
The HHS final rule said the
government will “in the
future” allow pharmacists to
import drugs from Canada, a
provision that matches the law
approved by Florida in 2019.
The final rule said state
importation programs will
have flexibility to decide
which drugs to import and in
what quantities.
The rule also makes clear
that drug manufacturers will
have to provide to importers
documentation guaranteeing
the medications are the same
drugs as those already sold in
the United States. HHS could
set up regulations that require
drug makers to comply.
Importers will have to send
drugs to labs to certify their
authenticity.
In addition to Florida, the
other states seeking federal
permission to buy drugs from
Canada are Colorado, Maine,
New Hampshire, New Mexico
and Vermont.