HLS 18RS-2403 ORIGINAL
2018 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 66
BY REPRESENTATIVE TALBOT
DRUGS/PRESCRIPTION: Requests a study concerning the prospective establishment of
a state prescription drug importation program
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2To urge and request the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health to study the
3 prospective establishment of a state program for importation of prescription drugs
4 from Canada and to report findings of the study to the House Committee on
5 Appropriations, the Senate Committee on Finance, and the legislative committees
6 on health and welfare.
7 WHEREAS, prescription drugs are the single most costly segment of healthcare
8spending in the United States, accounting for more than twenty-two cents of every healthcare
9premium dollar expended in this country; and
10 WHEREAS, costs of prescription drugs in the United States continue to rise and now
11outpace the nation's spending on physician services, inpatient hospital services, and
12outpatient treatment; and
13 WHEREAS, Louisiana, through House Bill No. 384 of this 2018 Regular Session,
14and several other states have proposed to institute prescription drug importation programs
15as a solution to the worsening fiscal and public health problem of uncontrolled growth in
16prescription drug costs; and
17 WHEREAS, the legal framework for such prescription drug importation programs
18was established through Public Law 108-173, the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement,
19and Modernization Act of 2003; and
20 WHEREAS, federal law, 21 U.S.C. 384, provides in pertinent part that the secretary
21of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, after consultation with the
Page 1 of 2 HLS 18RS-2403 ORIGINAL
HCR NO. 66
1United States Trade Representative and the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection,
2shall promulgate regulations permitting pharmacists and wholesalers to import prescription
3drugs from Canada into the United States.
4 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
5urge and request the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health to study the
6prospective establishment of a state program for importation of prescription drugs from
7Canada, and to issue findings and recommendations from the study in the form of a report
8to the House Committee on Appropriations, the Senate Committee on Finance, the House
9Committee on Health and Welfare, and the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare no
10later than sixty days prior to the convening of the 2019 Regular Session of the Legislature
11of Louisiana.
12 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, if requested by the secretary of the Louisiana
13Department of Health, the commissioner of insurance shall assist and collaborate in
14developing the study called for in this Resolution.
15 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the model for the program to be studied may be
16the program proposed in House Bill No. 384 of this 2018 Regular Session, a program
17proposed by any other state, or any combination of these.
18 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
19secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and to the commissioner of insurance.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HCR 66 Original 2018 Regular Session Talbot
Requests the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health to study the prospective
establishment of a state program for importation of prescription drugs from Canada.
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