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You tried using your Visa card to fill a legit RX at a licensed Canadian pharmacy online recently? Seems Visa is "protecting us" from Canadian pharmacies, and won't honor those transactions. Therefore, you are out of luck. Unless you want to risk other payment methods, or travel.
Very interesting. I was thinking of getting a prescription filled in Canada earlier this year. But then found a less expensive (in fact cheap) alternative drug that suits my needs. This - combined with Mark's experience in having his drug shipment confiscated - ought to make people wary of shopping on line in Canada. Robyn
I have to use them, and I lucky have three right now and I hope they don't go bad any time soon. I keep them within reach in my home car and purse and just hope I don't get stung or eat the wrong thing. It is so WRONG of them being so dam greedy. It is a need for millions of people world wide and there should be laws about price gouging medication. There should be a market line by the government.
Just curious - what medical conditions do you have? Are they documented? What is the worst reaction you ever had from a bug bite or eating something before you got an EpiPen? Have you ever had occasion to use your EpiPen? If so - for what?
Don't mean to grill you - but I guess I am. I can't help but think that perhaps a sizeable % of people who have EpiPens don't really need them. For example. I react rather badly to bug bites (and - living in Florida - I get lots of them). Swelling. Itching. Etc. But nothing life threatening or close to it. OTOH - I do have a life threatening problem with certain blood pressure meds (documented - I got angioedema first time I took a pill). Still - since there is basically zero chance I will ever get blood pressure meds by accident - there's no reason for me to carry an EpiPen (have discussed it with my PCP).
I wonder how many EpiPens are bought every year? And then discarded because they're not used? Seems to me that a great advance would be to make an EpiPen with a shelf life of 5 years instead of 1 (although that 1 year shelf life may be a lot of BS too). Wonder why no one has tried to do that ? Robyn
It's straight up bull****. It's stories like this where I hope for a nationalized medical system with price controls i.e. price increases are tied to inflation.
Overall - I have no illusions. This PR/lobbyist CEO probably would have gotten "most favored nation" status if her Daddy was a Republican Senator (as opposed to a Democrat). That's one of the things that's wrong with our country today. Robyn
The US government instituted a "medical device tax." The FDA--which is so much more about politics than saving lives/maintaining health--rejected a generic Epipen competitor recently, further solidifying the monopoly. (This is the same federal government that will sue monopolies based on anti-trust laws).
Yep...thank Barry and his healthcare fiasco, as well as all his enablers from both sides of the aisle.
The amount of miss information and outright lies here is amazing to me.
In Canada, a pharmacy is legally prohibited from filling a prescription that was NOT written by a Canadian MD. PERIOD. That means that in order to be legal, a US customer has to BE in Canada, and SEE a Canadian MD, who examines the patient , and makes a diagnosis, and issues a script.
The US person then goes, in person, to a Canadian pharmacy, and presents their script to the pharmacist. The pharmacist fills the script and the US person, pays for it.
That's the procedure. The cost here is about $100 for a one use epi pen, made by the very SAME company that is the focus of so much discussion here. WHY is it cheaper here ?
Because in Canada our Federal Government controls the retail costs of all prescription drugs that are approved for use in Canada. Got that ? And we also limit the period of time that a patent on a drug can be held by the original maker. In reality , that encourages other drug makers to produce generics that are EXACTLY the same as the original, but at a much lesser cost. WHY? To benefit Canadians.
Imagine that, a national Government that acts in the best interests of their citizens ? Yes , really.
So, given the legal requirements I have cited above.... YES a US person can buy a epei pen in Canada, but they have to meet the legal requirements to do so . ALL of them.
My wife and I are both in healthcare and could do this. The problem is there is no way someone in distress could put this together by themselves. It might be an alternative in the parent child situation.
Canadian citizen-I thought a US Rx could be countersigned by a Canadian MD to be legal. I saw a show long ago that talked about senior citizens in the NE USA chartering a bus to go to Canada to buy meds. This was one of the points made in the show.
In Canada, a pharmacy is legally prohibited from filling a prescription that was NOT written by a Canadian MD. PERIOD. That means that in order to be legal, a US customer has to BE in Canada, and SEE a Canadian MD, who examines the patient , and makes a diagnosis, and issues a script.
There are a number of Canadian pharmacies that sell to US customers who live in the US, and have prescriptions written by US doctors. This one is in Vancouver BC which I have used when my insurance did not cover a certain medication - https://www.northwestpharmacy.com/
I wonder how they are able to stay in business and serve so many customers if they are violating Canadian law. It seems they would have been shut down a long time ago.
From their website:
"NorthWestPharmacy.com is also a certified member of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association, the International Pharmacy Association of British Columbia (IPABC) and is accredited by Pharmacy Checker. You can review each of these certifications by clicking on the various seals on our website to learn more."
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? Robyn
There Seem To Be Antitrust Issues Too
