What To Do When Drug Prices Go Uppp
Americans pay the highest prices for medications in the world. If you’ve ever been on a cruise, you may have wondered about the long, long lines that formed immediately at the local pharmacies. Some people travel solely to lower their Rx costs (even factoring in the cost of travel, they can save money).
Drug prices continue to skyrocket, especially formerly cheap generics. This has drawn the attention of Congress, pharmacies and insurance companies. President Trump says he plans to do something, but for now, what can YOU do for your clients now?
Many agents, like me, are helping clients to explore the wide world of international drug re importation and medical tourism.
Yesterday a friend confided that his drug price is now $600 per month for one medication. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find his drug available online, but it should be available from Israel soon and at half the price!
Wait. You’ve heard of the online drug scams where people buy cheap Viagra that isn’t Viagra, or the horrors on the web of people buying Human Growth Hormones and other steroids for anti-aging. In this blog post, I’m talking about legit Rx for people with a doctor’s prescription. This isn’t new. Over 11 million American are importing their drugs from abroad right now. http://justcareusa.org/with-drug-prices-soaring-millions-buy-drugs-abroad/
Millions near the Mexican and Canadian boarders, forgo their insurance to buy their medications are much lower prices, but the rest of the nation has this option too. The internet is rife with options. I purchase one drug from overseas for $30 per month vs. $121 if I bought it at my pharmacy. For many, it’s the difference between taking their drugs—or not.
Yes, it is technically illegal to import drugs and to reimport drugs that are made in the US and repriced for another country.
No American has ever been prosecuted!
The drug companies have a lot of control in Congress, but the internet is a great equalizer.
How to find out if your international pharmacy is legit, safe and free of complaints http://justcareusa.org/online-pharmacies-can-save-you-money/
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the outrageous cost to Medicare of generic drugs in the five years between 2010 and 2015, with one in five drugs more than doubling in price. https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-16-706 .
For 20 years big Pharma has vigorously lobbied Congress to stop Americans from buying drugs abroad. They love to use scare tactics out there to keep people from buying abroad—but there is NO reported case of anyone ever dying or being injured from buying drugs from a pharmacy that requires a legitimate prescription. THIS IS NOT THE SAME as the blackmarket operations online. There are many shady websites where you can buy drugs without a prescription—avoid them.
Gordon Marketing partners with an 18 year old company in Indiana that reimports drugs from dozens of countries. You can look up the price of hundreds of drug and see what it will cost in a variety of countries. For a $30 per month membership fee (which covers the whole family) your clients have access to foreign prices for Rx that can be mailed. There are other companies that do the same thing, so I urge you to look into it or contact me if you’d like more info on the company we use. Yes, agents do make a small commission on this product, but it is more of a service for your clients than a revenue source.
We agents are the “middle people” who have the best interest of the client at heart, so please explore all options to help your clients. No one else is going to help them!
