I-SaveRx logo--------------------------------------Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich

Residents of Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, and Vermont are now eligible to purchase prescription drugs from Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom (U.K.) for their own personal use through the state-sanctioned I-SaveRx program.

This program allows participants to purchase prescription drugs at significantly lower prices than they would otherwise be able to get, with the assurance of their state governments that the products they're buying are every bit as safe as ones they'd purchase at higher prices from U.S. sources, notwithstanding the vehement assertions by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and some major pharmaceutical companies to the contrary, a position that Abby Ottenhoff, a spokesperson for Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich says is "a totally illegitimate claim.".

Etopia Media Medical News Network spoke today with Ms. Ottenhoff as she explained the origins, structure, policies, extent, and operations of the I-SaveRx program.

You can listen to that conversation with the spokesperson for Governor Blagojevich in its entirety by clicking here.

Also discussed during that interview was the Illinois Rx Buying Club, which allows senior citizens and people with disabilities in Illinois to buy drugs at lower prices through a bulk purchasing program arranged by the State of Illinois. This program is similar in structure to one recently approved by the City of Los Angeles for residents of that city and surrounding areas.

For the latest news about the I-SaveRx program, click here.

The I-SaveRx program was originally established for use by residents of Illinois, but is now also available to residents of Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, and Vermont.

The program is open to other states that may want to join it. I-SaveRx is administered in Illinois by the Illinois Department of Public Aid.

To access information about efforts by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and Illinois Congressman Rahm Emmanuel to include reimportation language in a Medicare bill, in order "to lower prescription drug prices for all Americans," click here.