As more Americans find themselves struggling to pay for their prescription drugs, United States Representatives Marion Berry (D-AR) and Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) introduced a bill Wednesday to help lower the costs of pharmaceuticals for consumers.

"The high cost of prescription drugs reduces access to life-saving medications, particularly for the millions of individuals who lack prescription drug coverage," said Berry. "Prescription drugs can be imported safely and effectively into the U.S. while at the same time providing significant savings to consumers. This bill will help individuals get the medicines they need by lowering costs and ensuring the integrity of our safety standards are met."

“The unnatural barriers to competition on prescription drug costs prevent the appropriate medicines and the appropriate doses from going to the Americans who need their prescriptions filled as part of their doctor’s treatment. Furthermore, during a time when millions of American families are making cuts to their budgets and retirees have lost substantial amounts of their life savings in the market, we should be working especially diligently to find safe ways to reduce the costs of medicines. This is a straightforward proposal with bipartisan support in Congress, and now is the time to take up this measure,” said Emerson.

The legislation will save consumers money by allow individuals to purchase prescription drugs for their own personal use from safe, reliable, FDA-inspected Canadian pharmacies.

In addition, the bill allows U.S.-licensed pharmacies and drug wholesalers to import FDA-approved medications from Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan and pass along the savings to their American customers. This approach will allow Americans to benefit from prices in these countries, which are 35-55-percent lower than in the U.S. Consumers will still be able to get their medicines from their local pharmacies. The bill includes strict safety measures such as requiring pharmacies and drug wholesalers to register with the FDA and to be subject to strict requirements including frequent and random inspections. A

lso, the legislation permits only the importation of FDA-approved medicines with a “chain of custody” to ensure that drugs are handled only by authorized persons. The bill mandates use of anti-counterfeiting technology to assure product integrity. Finally, the bill gives the FDA the resources and authority it needs to ensure the safety of imported drugs and prohibits illicit sales of unsafe products or drugs dispensed without a proper prescription.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this legislation will result in $50 billion in direct savings alone over the next decade, with $6.1 billion of that being savings in the federal budget.