A proposal in Utah that would have moved the state toward allowing the importation of cheaper Canadian prescription drugs died March 8 after the state's Legislature wrapped up its work for the year without passing the bill.
But the bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Norm Thurston, said the state could still move toward the goal over the next few months and revisit the idea in 2019.
Although lawmakers did not adopt the bill, the chairmen of four influential legislative committees on March 1 wrote to Joseph Miner, executive director of the state health department, urging his agency to study the viability of creating a drug importation program before Oct. 1.
There is a "continuing need to find ways to constrain state spending for healthcare, including pharmaceuticals," said the letter signed by Senate Health and Human Services Committee Chairman Lincoln Fillmore, Senate Social Services Appropriations Committee Chairman Allen Christensen, House Health and Human Services Committee Chairman Brad Daw and House Social Services Appropriations Committee Chairman Paul Ray.
Health department spokesman Tom Hudachko in an email stopped short of promising a study but said the agency will "offer assistance where we can."
Thurston said in an interview that his bill stalled when senators said they did not want to authorize importation before a study was done. "They said, 'it sounds like there's a lot of figuring out to do,'" Thurston said.
Thurston, however, said that if the health department does the study, the state could be ready to move ahead and pass legislation to seek federal approval during next year's legislative session.
Utah is one of six states this year that has considered allowing the importation of Canadian drugs as lawmakers nationally consider different approaches to reining in rising drug costs.
Thurston's bill would have required the state to develop a proposal on how a drug importation plan would work and would have also required the state to get federal approval.
Vermont's Senate passed a similar bill March 1 and is awaiting action by the House. A West Virginia bill is not expected to pass before the state's Legislature adjourns for the year March 10.
In Louisiana, Republican Rep. Kirk Talbot introduced a bill March 1 that would direct the state's health department to create a drug importation program.
