Springfield, MA — the small town that started a big problem finally threw in the towel yesterday and said it would stop treating it’s municipal employees like second class citizens by making them get their drugs from so-called “Canadian” pharmacies.
And then they lied.
According to a story in the Boston Globe, Springfield officials claim that on $5 million spend, they saved $3 million annually by doing business with profiteers masquerading as pharmacists.
Not even real Canadian drugs are that inexpensive. That’s wrong by a wide margin — and the Globe didn’t press for evidence to support such an absurd claim.
Typical? Unfortunately yes.
Another misleading comment in the story (written by the usually on-target Chris Rowland) repeats the canard that prescription medicines are “typically less expensive in Canada and elsewhere because government controls limit profits.”
Not accurate. What governments in Canada and elsewhere control are prices. Big difference in practice and in theory. (Not to mention that it also makes the practice sound a lot better for grandstanding politicians.)
Adieu Springfield.
