There are significant disparities that exist between U.S. and non-U.S. markets with respect to the cost of prescription medication. In order to control the escalating cost of health care, the U.S. should use external reference pricing to set price controls on medications, using countries such as Canada, the UK, and France as potential reference models. This RAND study shows different pricing models
http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR200/RR240/R...
An alternative is to allow U.S. Citizens to purchase prescriptions from Canada or from other FDA inspected foreign facilities. There is little justification for a drug in Canada costing 30% of the price of the same in the U.S., especially when many companies receive federal funding for its development.