HEALTH CARE – GOVERNORS DEMAND FRIST ACT

HEALTH CARE – GOVERNORS DEMAND FRIST ACT: Republican and Democratic governors are demanding Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) stop blocking bipartisan legislation allowing seniors to purchase lower-priced, FDA-approved medicines from Canada. The Hill newspaper reports Govs. Craig Benson (R-NH), Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) and Jim Doyle (D-WI) are demanding Frist live up to his earlier promise to pass the reimportation bill. The White House continues to oppose the legislation, claiming it is unsafe. Yet its own FDA officials say they have no evidence that is the case. And just this week, a top pharmaceutical industry executive said the safety scare tactics are a red herring and that the United States could easily create a safe reimportation system like many other industrialized countries.