Letters: Imported prescription drugs better than none

ISSUE | PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

Imports make treatment affordable

A commentary against drug importation did not mention the role of price increases ("Drug-import proposal puts people at risk," Wednesday). As a "poor senior" on a "tight, fixed-income budget," I am not as afraid of foreign imports as I am of a system that puts medications out of the reach of people who need them. An article in the AARP Bulletin stated, "According to recent estimates, more than one-quarter of prescriptions aren't filled because people can't afford them."

In the last five years, four of the top 10 prescribed drugs underwent a price increase of more than 100 percent; the remaining six were subject to price increases exceeding 50 percent, according to a Reuters analysis.

Do those responsible for the inexorable price increases give a thought for the people with treatable illnesses who do not receive treatment? Compared with no treatment, importing from countries that are charged a fraction of what we're charged for the same medicines could be a bargain.

|Sue Sopczynski, Philadelphia, ssopczynski@mmsmission.net