"Prescription drug spending in the United States has been increasing by more than 15 percent a year. One reason is the United States pays higher prices for brand-name prescription drugs than other countries. If Americans paid average Canadian prices for brand-name drugs in 2001, they would have saved $38.4 billion."

Statement from the Democratic Policy Committee Chairman Senator Byron L. Dorgan
April 8, 2004

Results of a study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System. The findings are published in the July issue of the American Public Health Association's journal Medical Care:

"New research shows, for the first time, that people with preexisting chronic medical conditions who curtailed their prescription medications because of cost were 76 percent more likely to then suffer a significant decline in their overall health and 50 percent more likely to have a nonfatal heart attack, stroke or chest pain episode than those who did not cut back."

Cost-Cutting on Drugs Has Health Cost
Amanda Gardner
HealthDay News
June 25, 2004