In killing the program that would have allowed for the reimportation last week of prescription drugs from Canada, Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala said drug imports cannot be a substitute for a drug benefit in Medicare or in state-run programs. She is right about that, but let politics stand in the way of using the reimportation act as a way to prod the drug industry into negotiating on the benefits she desires.

From the beginning of the proposal to allow for the reimportation of U.S. drugs sold at a lower price in Canada, the Clinton administration had problems with it. Republicans supported the proposal for one thing, and passing it took the pressure off consumers to demand more substantial changes in the way the pharmaceutical industry sells prescription drugs for another. So Secretary Shalala refused to use the $23 million appropriated by Congress to fund the program saying she didn’t see how it would result in lower prices or how the safety of the drugs would be assured.

Both concerns could have been worked out, even though the reimportation bill that made it to the president’s desk for signature was a weaker version of the one first proposed and supported by Maine’s congressional delegation. The act contained, after all, a two-year implementation period to study how to prevent these problems from occurring. The secretary’s decision now means that Democrats are blocking a method to make prescription drugs more affordable and have no leverage for persuading the pharmaceutical industry to negotiate on the issue. They are leaving the task to Republicans.

Democratic Rep. John Baldacci points out that the secretary’s action left intact a change that allows the reimportation of a 90-day supply of medicine for personal use. That will help U.S. residents who live near the border or those who are aware that some drug shopping is done on the Internet and can take advantage of the 30 percent to 70 percent price difference between the United States and Canada, but it does not have the same effect as the large-scale program outlined in the act.

For that, more plans like the one being carried out by Eastern Maine Healthcare in Bangor will be necessary. EMH is encouraging doctors to obtain licenses in New Brunswick, and so be able to arrange for prescriptions from a Canadian pharmacy. The prescriptions – the program is expected to include between 300 and 400 drugs – would then be mailed to patients here.

This roundabout way of obtaining affordable prescription drugs is necessary because Congress, which sees nothing wrong with the governments of other nations negotiating drug prices and encourages Americans to find savings abroad, cannot find the courage to say that it too should negotiate for these lower prices. A new president and a new Congress are on the way; perhaps they can do something meaningful.