Why purchase prescription drugs in Canada?

fishin, Your balloon analogy is a good one, but used in the wrong way. The expansion of the balloon is not caused only by Medicare caps and drug costs. We also have a problem with "immigration" increasing the demand on our medical care providers. When the new immigrant without health insurance needs medical care, where do you think they end up? Who pays?

If our country is able to provide medical care to new immigrants without health insurance, why can't our government ensure that our senior citizens have drug coverage?

Why are 45,000,000 American citizens living without health insurance, when we are the richest country in the world? Our government doesn't seem to have any problem spending $65 billion to fight a war.

Why must senior citizens chose between eating or buying drugs?

There is a BIG problem with this picture. It's pretty clear to me.

c.i.

I agree with both ehBeth, C.I., and Fishin about the
reasoning for why there are no caps in the USA.
It IS TOTALLY BASED ON OUR CORRUPT POLITICAL
SYSTEM. Drug company lobbyists in Washington
spend fortunes yearly to ensure that no such thing
as a cap, will EVER be imposed on whatever price
they want to charge in the USA.
Canada is the most intelligent and terrific example
that the USA must eventually follow & begin a
program of nationalized medical care. This forces
the drug companies to take whatever they can get.
Like medicare patients in the USA....there is a SET
price that Medicare will pay for any MD visit, or test,
or procedure. The greedy hospitals may charge 5
times that amount but it's meaningless - because
whatever Medicare says the LIMIT is - that is it!
Now, all they must do is implement this kind of
program for the prescription drug benefit. As more
and more baby boomers straggle into the Medicare
program .... perhaps this issue will be forced to
come to a head and an intelligent resolution found.
I thought Hillary Clinton made a good effort to try
to focus more attention upon the much needed
changes in medical care and coverage. But, it is
Congress who is being lobbied by all the big drug
companies -and the forces that be, still look the other
way when a drug company representative forks over
a big sum of money for a congressma's family vacation
or maybe a new car........ it is corruption that stands
between us and the health care that we desperately
need. I guess we can keep voting out of office EVERY
incumbent and hope for better things.... but I don't know....

Our federal government continues to allow new immigrants to come to this country, but does not pay the cost of supporting those new immigrants. New immigrants puts demands on all government services, including schools, social services, medical care, and any subsidies they receive while they find a place to live and get a job. The following link provides information on the demands of new immigrants to California. http://www.rand.org/publications/RB/RB8015/
Somethings gonna give, because there isn't enough money in California to sufficiently fund the needs of our expanded residents. Our state has already projected a 35 billion dollar deficit for the next 18 months. c.i.

The insurance premiums have gone up for surgeons.

c.i.:

You mean the NA, who puts the band-aid on!

Fosamax is interesting drug for the discussion of cost.

As I mentioned on another thread, a 35 mg tab costs the same as a 70 mg tab. Sound sensible?

Even more interesting is the bioavailoability of the drug. For Fosamx, 99.9% of the drug that's ingested is excreted into the feces. One tab costs about $14. This means that each time a patient takes one tab, this patient excretes $13.99 worth of drug into their toliet.


The bottom line is that very,very little of the Fosamax is systemically absorbed.

Sensible?

New Haven- you bring up a good point about the cost of a drug vs. its strength. That is exactly why, I have the MD write out a prescription for some of my mom's meds at double (and in one case 4x) what she needs, and I use my handy dandy pill cutter to give her the right dose.

Does this type of pricing make any sense to anyone?

New Haven- Absolutely not. But if the drug companies decided to price by dosage, and started its pricing with what they now have for the smallest dose, the prices for the largest doses would be outta sight! You don't really think that they would do it the other way, wouldja?

I read an article recently that described how new generics are being priced at just a little less than the name brands. YUK!

Fishin
I agree with you regarding the problems with the payments Dr's receive from Medicare. They are causing many Dr's to refuse Medicare patients. And in fact Dr's in some instances are leaving the medical profession because of it. I also believe that the high cost of Mal practice insurance is also a major factor. That can only be remedied by tort reform. However, with congress being dominated by lawyers there is little chance of that happening. That said I submit that has little to do with the price the drug companies charge for their product or their profit margins, the subject of this post. Do I agree that the way we deliver health care must be revised, without a doubt? That would make for a good followup question.

Phoenix:

If the generic costs the same as the Brand name, why use the generic?

New Haven
Phoenix is correct . I read the same article. I do not remember exactly why however, generic prices are on the rise and it is not cost related but profit margin related. I think it has something to do with the general acceptance of generic drugs.

Merck is planning on stopping drug shipments to Canadian pharmacies who sell to Americans. it's cutting into their profits in the USA.

Curious:

How do the prices in Canada compare with those in Israel for Americans?

NH, The media just got hold of the termination of shipments of drugs from Canada to the US. Is Mexico still open for seniors? c.i.

c.i.:

I just posted a question today in the Medical Section, on buying drugs from Israel. Check out the prices. Very cheap.

You send your Rx to an intermediary in Nevada, who then sends the Rxs to Israel. Shipment cost= $15.

Would you buy your meds from the Middle East?

I don't know about Mexico. The Government is investigating Merck for price fixing for pepcid Rx to Medicaid patients.

Also...but unrelated...Merck said that they would stop shipment of Merck drugs to Canadian pharmacies that were selling the meds to Americans.

NH, For now, I don't need to buy my Rx outside of my Kaiser membership, because I get all my drugs with no co-pay. I have Medicare plus my wife works for Kaiser, so I get all the benefits without having to shell out for Part A. When my wife retires in a few years, maybe two max, we're going to be paying co-pay or full price - I"m still not sure which. I see some patients at the Kaiser pharmacy that pays hundreds of dollars for their meds. It's scary. c.i.

In the UK each and every prescription drug costs £6.00, about $US9.00. No matter what it is.
There are people such as the retired elderly, unemployed, children & nursing moothers who get the drugs F.O.C. I have to take 6 different drugs 4 times a day for Parkinson's Disease. The monthly cost for the prescription would be £36.00 0r about $US54.00. Because I've been forced into early retirement I get the medication free. But I have been paying State health insurance for over 40 years.
In fact all doctor/hospital services and treatment are covered this way and are free at the point of use. Everything from a split lip to a tripple bypass operation.
The system we have here is not perfect, but these last few years I've had very good treatment and service from all the medical staff that I've seen.
It's worked well and I have no complaints.

What you describe is in some way repeated in every industrial ntion of the world. With the exception of the US. Universal health care in the US is a dirty word.