Posted by Neal on January 31, 2001, at 22:43:05
In reply to Buying drugs in Mexico, posted by Lil on January 31, 2001, at 14:11:33
Have things changed since this ABC news report?
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/drugs000510.html
______________________________Medical Road to Mexico
Pharmacies dominate a mall immediately across the United States border in Tijuana, Mexico where cheaper prices are attracting customers from United States.
Seniors Find Prescription Bargains South of the Border
By Amy Collins
May 10 — At age 71, Arizona resident Carol McLean isn’t waiting for the U.S. government to bring down the price of her prescription drugs. She goes to Mexico instead.In 10 days, she’ll pay $20 to board a familiar bus with the familiar faces of other seniors to make a day-trip south of the border to stock up on perfectly legal prescription drugs. She needs two blood pressure medications, a cholesterol drug and her ulcer pills.
“If I got them here, it would take my whole Social Security check,” McLean said. “For the trip there, it’s well worth it.”
“I go to Wal-Mart before I go to Mexico to check the prices of my drugs,” she said. Before her last trip, 60 pills of the world’s top selling prescription drug, Prilosec ulcer medication, would have cost her $224.94 at Wal-Mart, she said. But in Mexico, she paid $25.Sold-Out Bus Trips
Judy Plett, the office manager at Casino Fun Express in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., says the company has been making regular trips to Mexico for about 10 years, but the service has grown tremendously as prescription drugs costs have climbed.
In the winter, the company takes a packed 52-passenger bus twice a week from Lake Havasu City to Algondones, Mexico. Sometimes the demand is so high and the company offers a second bus, so 104 can go in a single trip.
For $20, seniors gather in the parking lot of Casino Fun Express or at a handful of RV parks where the bus stops, and then the coach heads out of town for the three-hour drive to Mexico. Once there, bargains can be had on dental care, alcohol, and increasingly, prescription drugs.
“I have a fairly good idea that this has happened because of the Medicare situation in the United States,” said Plett, who used to drive one of the buses to Mexico.
And there is competition between bus companies making the Mexican treks.
John Gallup, the owner and president of Blue River Tours in Lake Havasu, says his business to Mexico has peaked in the past two years. They go not just for drugs, but also dental and optical work. He runs buses every other week, to Algondales and San Luis, with about half the riders in pursuit of medicine.
“You can buy a three months’ supply for the cost of one month (in the U.S.)” Gallup said.
The seniors in Arizona are not alone. In the southwest, and especially in Southern California, Mexico is a popular destination for bargains. But to the north, the Canadian border proves a similar lure, officials said.
“In Canada, you’re supposed to have a prescription signed by a Canadian doctor,” said Bette Cooper, the director of communications of the National Council of Senior Citizens. “But some of the pharmacies have been sympathetic and have handled the prescription (without a Canadian doctor’s approval.)”Stretching the Budget
Brad Williams, an associate professor at the University of Southern California’s School of Pharmacy and the School of Gerentology, said people in the Los Angeles area, which is only two hours Tijuana, find a number of reasons to go. Some are doing it strictly because of the cost, but some have family in Mexico and stock up while visiting relatives, and some are doing it to keep up with their friends who brag about the great deals.
“Not all of them are poor or cut off from insurance. It’s a way to stretch your budget a little,” he said. “This is nothing new for Los Angeles,” he said. “I’ve seen it for the past 20 years. But I would suspect it is growing some.”
Numerous studies show over and over again how prescription drugs sold in the Unites States are more expensive than the exact same drug sold in another country by the exact same company. Part of the problem is that other governments offer steep subsidies to consumers, and the other is the time-consuming and expensive process pharmaceutical companies face in order to get permission to sell a new drug in the United States.The Gold Standard
“The FDA has the toughest standards in the world,” says Susan Cruzan, a spokeswoman for the Federal Food and Drug Administration.
The FDA does not prohibit anyone from bringing the drugs into the country, Cruzan, but has several guidelines about how it should be done. Generally, consumers are allowed to bring back a three-month supply of prescribed drugs for personal use. However, there have been cases where people have been prosecuted for transporting drugs in bulk to sell at Southern California swap meets.
Greg Reaves, a spokesman for the New Jersey-based pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. said it usually takes a new drug 12 to 15 years to pass the FDA’s scrutiny, which he characterized as the international “gold standard” stamp of approval for a medication.
The problem with buying drugs across borders, he said, range from possible counterfeit medications to the reduced supervision for patients. “Many seniors take multiple drugs,” he said, citing the possibility of negative interactions among prescriptions.
Williams at USC agrees. “I don’t encourage going down there,” he said.
“It’s not the product safety issues. The product I have seen coming back from Mexico, from many of the patients I’ve seen, they’re coming in the manufacturers’ containers,” Williams said. “They’re professionally labeled. The package inserts are in Spanish.”
The problem is not so much with counterfeiting or quality, he said, but that the patients will miss a sometimes imperative link to a medical professional. A patient is less likely to find out about side effects and dangerous interactions with other drugs or conditions. And in older patients, they are sometimes reluctant to tell even their regular doctor they have gone to Mexico to buy their medications.
“You’re relying entirely on the patient to accurately get what they need,” he said.
But for McLean, a retiree in Lake Havasu, Ariz., she says she has little choice. She has no medical coverage and an offer through the American Association of Retired Persons didn’t come close to saving what she could in Mexico.
“I don’t understand why they do it to us,” McLean says. “It is terrible what they do.”Good Business, South of the Border
Reaves said Merck and other pharmaceutical companies believes the answer lies in expanding prescription drug coverage through Medicare and that recent agreements among Republicans and Democrats could lead to meaningful reform. “The seniors who do have coverage aren’t going over the border,” Reaves said.
But until that happens, it means good business for towns just over the Mexican border.
At least one local shopper magazine in McLean’s Arizona community is picking up increasingly bigger advertisements from Mexican pharmacies. They tout the prices of their drugs, and eyeglasses in a distinctly American way: “All competitors’ coupons honored,” “We’ll beat any price!”
Patty Leal, the receptionist at Algondes Optical, said the doctor’s office where she works caters to travelers coming to Mexico for services. “This time of year, we’re not very busy,” she said, estimating they only have 80 foreign customers a week during summer months. “In winter, we get about 60 a day.”
The customers, mostly seniors, come from nearby Arizona and in the winter, frequently from Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Canada as well. They come for eye exams, new lenses and complete glasses. Some people have their own prescription, some come for the eye exam,” Leal said. “Compared (to the United States) they save about $150,” Leal said.
But because political wheels turn slowly, and because people have multiple reasons for crossing the border, Williams predicts less than a total staunch to the travels. “If prices come down, this would come down proportionately. But I don’t think you’d eliminate it completely,” he said.
poster:Neal
thread:16003
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010131/msgs/53069.html