I think people should think long and hard about how important their health is to them before deciding to order medications from Canada or over the Internet. Saving a little (or sometimes even a lot) can be very costly.
Now I understand, as should all primary care physicians, that the cost of prescriptions can impose an extreme financial burden on a patient. But I also understand that proper medications can improve life's quality and prolong its length.
Unfortunately, some doctors just assume a patient has insurance coverage for medications and so prescribe without concern for cost. A physician should always inquire about a patient's ability to afford an expensive medicine before prescribing it.
For almost all medical conditions there are several different drugs that can be used for treatment. The choice should be based on effectiveness, side effects, and cost. A doctor is not doing the patients any favors by prescribing the most marvelous medicine in the world if it is unaffordable by them.
If a patient has good prescription insurance coverage, or is independently wealthy, a doctor has it made. Any medication can be used. The challenge comes when the choices are limited.
The cash paying patient obviously has limitations on what is affordable. The patient with insurance who has a high deductible or very restrictive formulary might have very similar if not identical limitations. Options for these individuals include samples, generics, pharmacy discounted medications, and patient assistance programs.
My office, thanks to the generosity of some pharmaceutical companies, is often able to provide the patient with samples of medications, often for months at a time. The advantage includes no cost to the patient while the disadvantages include inconvenience in the patient having to call and come by the office monthly or more often to pick up the medicine. The medicine might need to be changed depending on sample selection which might require additional office visits or lab studies.
Generic drugs are an attractive choice for many patients without insurance and required by formulary rules for many with insurance. The pharmacies like them since the profit margin is often greater from a generic prescription than from a brand name one.
All medications eventually become generic as the patents expire and so these are always older agents. They may require several doses a day and require more frequent monitoring for a higher rate of side effects, as well as not be as beneficial in treating certain diseases as compared to newer, branded drugs.
A few medications for blood thinning, thyroid troubles and heart problems should not be given generically since the amount of active drug in one generic may be a little higher than in the branded medication but a little lower in a different generic. You may receive a different company's generic pill every month. This can result in too much fluctuation in a medicine that needs to be kept in a narrow therapeutic range to be safe and effective.
Within the past year, starting with Wal-Mart, some pharmacies have been offering certain generic medications for free or for a very low set price. While this clearly benefits the patient, I suspect it also benefits the store as people will tend to shop and buy other products while waiting for their prescriptions to be filled. The lists tend to be fairly inclusive by including several options for many common conditions like infections, diabetes, and hypertension.
Most pharmaceutical companies offer a patient assistance program for people that require a particular branded drug but do not have insurance to cover it or cannot afford it. This should be a last resort as the paperwork required is usually quite burdensome to both the patient and the doctor. The patient is required to send in proof of income and the doctor is required to complete pages of information and repeat the process up to every three months depending on the particular company.
People who choose to try to save money by ordering medication through Canadian pharmacies or over the Internet are making a mistake and their doctor should not condone or assist them in this endeavor. The reason for the price disparity in the cost of the same branded medication in different countries is muti-factorial and will not be delved into in this particular essay. The cost savings does not justify the risks involved for either the patient or the physician.
It is still illegal for a patient to directly receive prescriptions from foreign countries in the United States. You may not agree with this, but not agreeing with the law does not justify breaking it in this case. Your doctor is also breaking the law if he assists you in this endeavor. I suspect the medications received from reputable Canadian mail-in pharmacies are probably genuine and safe.
It is a crapshoot when you get medications from elsewhere outside this country or over the Internet. There are countless examples of counterfeit branded medications being sold for everything from erectile dysfunction to cancer chemotherapy. Contrary to the popular dictum of the worst medication a doctor can give a patient is one that cannot be afforded, the really worst medication a doctor can give a patient is one that is different from what is prescribed.
The doctor must be sure a patient can afford the prescribed medications. The patient must be sure the doctor is aware if a particular medication is unaffordable. Only then can the above listed measures be utilized effectively to provide the optimal health care for an individual. Only then can both parties avoid illegal activities and be sure that the medication being prescribed is the medication being taken.
