The House is currently considering a bill called the Pharmaceutical Market Access and Drug Safety Act of 2007 (H.R. 380). Here is how it describes the problem:

1. Americans unjustly pay up to 5 times more to fill their prescriptions than consumers in other countries;
2. the United States is the largest market for pharmaceuticals in the world, yet American consumers pay the highest prices for brand pharmaceuticals in the world;
3. a prescription drug is neither safe nor effective to an individual who cannot afford it;
4. allowing and structuring the importation of prescription drugs to ensure access to safe and affordable drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration will provide a level of safety to American consumers that they do not currently enjoy;
5. American spend more than $200,000,000,000 on prescription drugs every year;
6. the Congressional Budget Office has found that the cost of prescription drugs are between 35 to 55 percent less in other highly-developed countries than in the United States; and
7. promoting competitive market pricing would both contribute to health care savings and allow greater access to therapy, improving health and saving lives.

You can read the full text of the bill here.