Obama Acts To Stop Medicine Shortages

Those of you who are pretty healthy may not know this, but the United States has a growing problem of drug shortages. I'm not talking about shortages of illegal drugs (those are plentiful), but of legal prescription drugs prescribed for patients by their doctor. In 2010 there were 178 drug shortages reported to the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). Shortages of medicines in 2011 are on a pace to top that.

Naturally, as with most other serious problems in this country, Congress has refused to address the issue. Too many Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats are afraid that passing legislation to stop the shortages might in some way affect the profits of their rich buddies in the pharmaceutical industry -- and corporate profits take precedence over everything else, even the health of seriously ill American citizens.


So using his newly-found backbone, President Obama has decided to take all the action he can on the issue without congressional approval. The president signed an executive order on Monday directing the FDA to pressure drug companies to report possible shortages more quickly, and for regulators to expedite the approval of new drug manufacturing plants. It also directs the FDA and the Justice Department to work together closely to prevent price gouging on drugs in short supply.

The president said, "The shortage of prescription drugs drives up costs, leaves consumers vulnerable to price gouging and threatens our health and safety. This is a problem we can't wait to fix. That's why today, I am directing my administration to take steps to protect consumers from drug shortages, and I'm committed to working with Congress and industry to keep tackling this problem going forward."

I don't know how much good the executive order will do to solve the problem of drug shortages, but at least the president is trying to do what he can -- which is more than can be said of this Congress. This is the third executive order the president has issued in the last couple of weeks to address problems that Congress refuses to address. He has also tried to slow down the rising tide of home foreclosures and taken action to help students with huge debts for college.

If the president will keep this kind of thing up, he may start getting much higher approval numbers. The people want change, and if Congress won't do it, they'll take what they can get from the president. I wouldn't expect the approval numbers for Congress to rise though (currently a pitiful 9%). Refusal to act in a time of economic crises breeds contempt, not approval.