As pointed out by Jack Shapiro, an internationally-known healthcare marketing consultant “For the first nine months of this year, the U.S. imported $40 billion in pharmaceuticals and exported only $21 billion. In 2003, we imported $50 billion and exported $23 billion." So what makes buying from your local U.S. based pharmacy any safer then purchasing from Mexico or Canada?
Many of today's elderly (U.S.) cross the borders of Mexico and Canada in order to get their prescriptions filled at a huge discount. For some it has become a necessity because they simply can't afford necessary drug treatments any other way.
But what about those who don't live near the borders; how can they take advantage of these savings? Fact is there are a lot of prescription drugs that can be purchased online from international locations for a fraction of the cost people pay here in the United States. A good example of this is www.rxmex.org where many of today's best known brand drugs can be found such as Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, Zocor, Zoloft, Propecia and more. However they not only offer name brand drugs at sharp discounts they also give seniors the opportunity to buy generic versions of most of these name brand drugs for savings that can reach up to 80% less then their name brand counterparts!
When a drug company first invents a drug (eg. Prozac) that company is the only one allowed to make that drug for a certain number of years (approximately 10 years in the US). After this time period, other companies are allowed to make the same drug. These drugs are called generics. The original drug (eg. Prozac) is called a brand name drug. Brand name drugs and their generics are IDENTICAL in terms of active ingredients. The generic pills may look different (because they are made by a different company) but inside is exactly the same active ingredient which works in exactly the same way. The only difference between brand name drugs and generic drugs is that generics are always less expensive.
Most all drugs found at www.rxmex.org require a prescription so this licensed pharmacy can fill most orders by having the purchaser fax them their prescription and the shipped order can be tracked online. Another benefit to ordering this way is that there is no tax to be paid and orders are shipped internationally.
While some headway has been made in the last year or so in regards to reducing prescription drug costs for seniors, for now it's simply not enough for so many of our elderly. With the political clout of today's drug companies who converge on Washington D.C. like vultures I'm not sure the costs will ever get to the point where it should be. Until then places like www.rxmex.org with their name brand and generic low cost versions of many prescription drugs will continue to be another excellent low cost source for today's seniors.