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Email to a FriendPresident Trump drew the ire of Canadians during his campaign when he lambasted the country’s health-care system — a point of national pride — as “slow” and “catastrophic.”
But it appears there’s at least one aspect of the Canadian system that he admires. On Wednesday, his administration said it wasweighing plans to allow for the legal importation of prescription drugs from Canada to help Americans coping with skyrocketing drug prices in the United States.
The response from Canadians? Sorry, but back off.
Pharmacists, patient groups, doctors and some lawmakers here worry that the large-scale importation of pharmaceuticals could deplete the drug supply for the country’s 37 million residents.
“This is going to exacerbate some of the drug shortages that we’re already seeing in Canada,” said Joelle Walker, the vice president of public affairs for the Canadian Pharmacists Association. “We aren’t equipped to deal with a country that is ten times our size.”
She said such measures could also increase the prices of drugs for Canadians.