Sorrell to Focus on Prescription Drug Costs

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(Host) Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell says he wants to focus on the growing cost of prescription drugs during his tenure as president of the National Association of Attorneys General. Sorrell was named as the head of the organization last week at the association’s annual meeting.

Sorrell plans to hold a special two-day national conference in January that will try to define the major factors that he says cause U.S. consumers to pay the highest drug costs of any industrialized country:

(Sorrell) “As our population ages and we use our health care system more and more, these problems are going to be even more pronounced in the future. And with prescription drug costs annually going up by significantly more than the annual rates of inflation generally for consumer products, in another 10, 20, 30 years from now this is going to be a crisis in this country.”

(Host) Sorrell also wants to study the effectiveness of re-importing drugs from Canada:

(Sorrell) “Is that a solution or is that really just a band aid that avoids the real issue of why we here in this country are paying such high prices? And why should we have to drive – in our case 30 or 50 or whatever miles – north to buy drugs for significantly less than they’re for sale here in the States.”

(Host) Sorrell hopes that a special association task force will issue a comprehensive report next spring based on the information gathered at the winter conference.

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