The pharmaceutical industry may be fuming, but as of today, Maine residents can start purchasing prescription drugs over the Internet, thanks to a contentious law that has some predicting the initiative could be duplicated in still more states. Residents are allowed to purchase medicines from Internet pharmacies in Canada, the UK, New Zealand and Australia (back story here).
The law underscores the extent to which prescription drug pricing remains an issue, despite the passage of the Medicare D program several years ago. Many state employees, as well as workers in the city of Portland and one large company, claimed they saved some $10 million through Internet purchases over several years.
For this reason, the law had backing from some in the state business community and dissuaded the Republican governor from issuing a veto. But the savings ended last summer after the former state attorney general banned such businesses from doing licensed business in Maine. The law, however, is being met with a stiff challenge.