I buy drugs in Mexico. I'm just closer to there. I always have, especially when I didn't have health insurance. Mom could go buy them and send them to me for less than half of what it would have been to buy them without insurance and for $1/pill for Claritin instead of the $3.50 I paid in the states. I bought an inhaler there the other day. We paid $15, which would be $5 less than me going to the doctor ($10) and getting a prescription filled ($10 for generics.)
Never thought aobut what the Mexicans might think about it.
The problem with Mexican drugs is they don't have the regulations that Canada and the US have... you don't even need a prescription for a lot of the prescription drugs there. Which means that it can be pretty lucrative for some person down there to make sugar pills in the fancy box and sell them at the price of teh real thing. For something like Claritin that won't kill you if you don't take it, that's one thing, but for meds that if the person doesn't take them, they die, well that's another.
My Ventolin bottle says Made in the USA that's what I find mostly hysterical about it. Without insurance the Ventolin would be about $35, I paid $15 for something made in the USA and transported over there. I don't understand why it's $20 cheaper in Mexico for the same thing.
They can make fake Made in the USA stickers too, I just don't trust things without regulations.
It's cheaper elsewhere because that's what the market forces there can keep up with. Or they have rules about the costs of drugs, and if they want to import, they have to sell below a certain cost or at a certain cost. Textbooks are another prime example... you can get the same exact textbook from England that you would here, for half the price. A lot of people re-import their textbooks which of course has the textbook manufacturers pissed off.
Yikes. The most expensive book I remember from college was a 35.00 computer graphics book. We joked at the time (early 80's) you could buy the space invaders game shown in the photos for less.
There are actually drugs you shouldn't buy in Canada either - I'm on levoxyl (thyroid hormone) that's heat sensitive - shipping could mess it up - fortunately this is a very cheap drug even without an Rx.
Well if you live near the border, you can drive across. If I was on some expensive drug, I might drive up to Windsor (maybe 4 hours away). Maybe do some gambling while i was at it (ha ha).
When we went to Canada for our honeymoon, we brought back 1 bottle of tylenol + codine (which isn't prescription in Canada, but you have to ask for it at the pharmacy counter) and some Claratin (which wasn't prescription there at the time).
Weird. I would think the Canadian companies would just up their prices to make a higher profit and/or discourage so many US purchases. That's what I'd do. It's legal to charge one country a different price, so you could still give the lower cost to the Canadian public. I agree, we (meaning those of us over here in the US) need to address this issue. If the drugs can be supplied for so much less, why are our companies charging so much? And why isn't anyone asking this question?
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2004-10-19 07:15 am (UTC)Never thought aobut what the Mexicans might think about it.
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Date: 2004-10-19 07:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-19 08:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-19 08:07 am (UTC)It's cheaper elsewhere because that's what the market forces there can keep up with. Or they have rules about the costs of drugs, and if they want to import, they have to sell below a certain cost or at a certain cost. Textbooks are another prime example... you can get the same exact textbook from England that you would here, for half the price. A lot of people re-import their textbooks which of course has the textbook manufacturers pissed off.
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Date: 2004-10-19 08:08 am (UTC)(although there are spelling differences .)
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Date: 2004-10-19 08:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-19 08:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-19 08:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-19 08:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-19 08:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-19 10:20 am (UTC)