A Bush administration report that says consumers would realize little savings through an official drug import program won’t stop Maine’s largest health care insurer from offering reimbursements for prescriptions filled in Canada.

Nor should it lead to major changes in the state’s plans to reduce health care costs by becoming a wholesale distributor of drug imports.

It has, however, irked Maine Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, the lead Republican co-sponsor of bipartisan drug importation legislation.

“The American people are demanding relief from skyrocketing prescription drugs, and safe, effective drug importation is a means of achieving that goal,” said Snowe. “I am disappointed that HHS failed to provide any meaningful recommendations to move forward on a legislative solution.”

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released the drug cost study Tuesday. It was prompted by growing numbers of individuals, municipalities, states and businesses that have turned to lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada as a means of cutting health care costs.

On Wednesday, a spokesman for Maine’s largest health insurer said the report will have no effect on policies that reimburse its consumers for prescriptions filled in Canada.

Bill Cohen, who handles corporate communications for Anthem Blue Cross, said Anthem doesn’t encourage its members to buy their drugs in Canada but “there is a mechanism where we will reimburse at out-of-network rates.”

That reimbursement procedure will remain in effect, he added.

“We’re sensitive to costs,” he said, but the company is “also sensitive to the safety of members, that they’re getting what they think they’re getting.”

Cohen said Anthem has a corporate level team that will likely review the government report, just as the insurer continues “to look at all of those issues.”

Maine, meanwhile, is looking at the report as offering potential opportunity.

Under Gov. John Baldacci, the state has been moving to establish a formal program to facilitate the importation of Canadian drugs as part of an effort to curb rising health care costs.

Jude Walsh, the governor’s affirmative affairs coordinator, said Wednesday that the report could mean only slight changes in Baldacci’s efforts to make Maine a drug import center.

Walsh, who said she read the entire report Tuesday night, maintained that it actually helps Maine in terms of positioning the state’s effort as a pilot or model program.

HHS has the ability to grant import waivers on a case-by-case basis. Walsh said that could allow the state to import at least some pharmaceuticals from Canada.

“Biologicals, injectables and controlled substances would probably be excluded,” she said, but other mainstream prescription drugs could be allowed.

She said the state would seek federal approval to become a reimporter of only FDA-approved drugs.

Snowe, meanwhile, harshly criticized the HHS findings.

“While the report cites the safety of the domestic drug distribution system, we know that the domestic drug distribution system has suffered from counterfeiting and tampering,” the senator said in a statement.

“The greatest remaining risk to Americans – and one not included in the key findings of the report – is that if Americans cannot afford to fill prescriptions, the benefits of medications are lost,” Snowe continued. “As has been said so many times, a drug one cannot afford is neither safe nor effective. When an individual can’t afford to refill a prescription, the result is predictable: It means more hospitalizations, injuries and deaths.”