The Price of Health

This letter to the editor, by Pam Fricke, appeared in the Hudson Star Observer on October 8, 2026.

Although I’ve followed President Donald Trump’s trade policies, they hadn’t hit home with our household until this month.

My husband is on a widely prescribed drug for a rather common ailment that affects more than 25 million Americans. The name brand, which is advertised regularly on television, costs between $550 and $800 a month (Editor’s note: The Star-Observer cannot independently verify these figures and the others in this letter referring to a drug, because the drug name was not given).

For many years a generic brand was not available in the United States, because Big Pharma wouldn’t allow it. Now the generic is available in the U.S. for between $310 and $500 a month, which is still a big expense.

The workaround for many households like ours was to order the generic from a Canadian mail-order pharmacy for about $100 a month. That worked fine for us for several years. Then, with the tariffs imposed earlier this year, the price went up.

Now, under a new federal rule, ordering from Canada will no longer be available to us.

My husband’s only option is to purchase the drug at our local pharmacy. Thankfully, we have Medicare Part D for prescriptions, but that only defrays part of the cost.

So how did this all happen?

New federal rules take effect Oct. 22. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has ended the dutyfree exemption for low-value mail shipments and under Food and Drug Administration import policy, brokers can’t bring in medications that are already sold in the U.S., regardless of the price difference.

There’s another surprise, too. In 2027, the Part D out-of-pocket cap rises from $2,100 to $2,400 and the deductible from $615 to $700.

Let’s vote to elect David Crowley, who will look out for our interests.