The same asthma medication that costs $212.00/month in the US

[Le Taz Hot]

is $45.00 from Mexico. I know because friends of mine who were there for the holidays brought me back an Advair disc for which they were charged only $45.00. $212.00 in the U.S. and $45.00 in Mexico. They are extorting money from us and using our lives as a bargaining chip. All in the name of the almighty dollar.

[niyad]

and remember in "sicko"--those inhalers were just pennies.

years ago, I remember that contraceptive pills were about $40/month here--in mexico?/ 75 CENTS. same pills, same dose, everything. AND, no expensive dr. visit, etc.,

[Le Taz Hot]

7. My inhaler went up from $17.00

3 years ago to $42.00 now AND, because they took out that whole fluorocarbon thingy, the inhaler is worth about 10 puffs and lasts less than a week wherein the old one was good for a month or more. They're REALLY sticking it to asthmatics because they KNOW we have no other choice as breathing is not one of those optional things.

[JanMichael]

10. The old albuterol inhalers were $7 a pop a Costco...

...the "new" albuterol inhalers are now $35 and Xopenex (similar to albuterol) have shot from $20 to $40 in the last month or so.

I don't know how parents with kids who have asthma (who lose them) can afford the damn things anymore.

[timeforpeace]

21. You/people demanded non-cfc propellant inhalers, you got it and the manufacturers made you pay. Be

careful what you wish for.

[JanMichael]

23. I didn't demand that at all. I should add that even w/o CFC's...

...there's no reason whatsoever why they should be so expensive.

[Le Taz Hot]

33. I don't know who the hell "you people"

are but I didn't demand anything except to breath! What an assbite thing to say! :thumbsdown:

[Sherman A1]

47. +1

As an asthma sufferer I also use Advair. I am lucky to have insurance so they only cost me $25.00 each, that combined with the Singular still set me back $125.00 for a 90 day supply. Wouldn't it be nice to have drug reimportation?

And Yes, we really are only asking to be able to Breathe.

[Christa]

40. Who are you talking about?

"You/people" ???

Please explain.

[WhiteTara]

54. there are no jobs on a dead planet

so...if it's pay more for being alive, count me in. By the way, 1000 posts and no donor star? You can donate as little as $5.00! Get a mop, join the program.

[XemaSab]

28. Two things:

When I was a kid the Alupent was the only med I was on, so my inhaler was a lifeline.

Now I make $8.75 an hour, and the meds are more than a week's pay. x(

[Dappleganger]

35. We barely can!

I forego a lot of my own asthma meds just to make sure our kids get theirs. Two of them already have had pneumonia this year, too. Asthma is the reason why we haven't had a car payment since 1998, we couldn't afford both so we drive older cars. When they did away with CFC inhalers all the prices went up.

One thing I would like to say is that outside the US there is RAMPANT replication of certain inhalers and the formulas aren't the same. There's also a business out there for relabeling out of date inhalers which is life-threatening if an asthmatic depends upon it in an emergency. I am wary of going outside the US for our asthma drugs for this reason, although I have no problem doing this for other meds or our dogs heartworm/flea meds (we get these from Australia).

[XemaSab]

27. Are you talking about ProAir?

I, too, have noticed that they are only good for about 30 puffs, as opposed to 200+ for the old CFC meds. x(

[meti57b]

30. Only 30 puffs!? That's less than a week!

Does the propellant actually get into the atmosphere? It feels like you breathe it all in, where it would get assimilated the same as the medicine.

I'm still working off my stash of old inhalers.

[Le Taz Hot]

32. I'm talking about Advair.

The only other inhaler that works for me is Proventil and that's $65.00.

[Dappleganger]

36. I'm convinced that ProAir is a scam

pushed by doctors by the manufacturer. We never have been able to get a 30-day supply out of them at all. We ask for other brands whenever possible.

Also, Xopenex is just not as effective with our youngest son as regular albuterol (inhaler OR neb capsules). We do tend to use the neb capsules more often because they are more effective (albuterol/duoneb) than inhalers, especially the new ones. We're lucky that someone gave us two new nebs last year so we have three total (one we keep at our youngest son's school).

[hedgehog]

8. I haven't seen Sicko, but here is some background on inhalers:

The tiny canisters used a propellant that was banned because it damaged the ozone layer. It used to be a cheap propellant because it was used in all kinds of products. The small amount used in medical inhalers probably wouldn't harm the ozone but the cost of manufacturing a tiny amount of the propellant just for asthma inhalers would be out of this world.

I have no idea of the mark-up on the disk type medications, but my guess is that if you tried to manufacture the little inhaler canisters, the actual cost (before profit) would be slightly above the current price for the disks.

[Subdivisions]

1. Yes. So, now...

What are we going to do about it?

[Le Taz Hot]

3. Well, in that I live in California I suppose

ride the Greyhound down to the border, get my meds and ride the Greyhound back. I'm not sure what "we" are going to do about it but that's my plan. :shrug:

[Subdivisions]

11. And a good plan it is, in the absense of any other recourse. Personally,

I'd like to see other options that do not involve travelling to a foreign country.

[rsmith6621]

2. And the Democrats Don't MIND

If you keep paying $212.00 a month.......

[glinda]

5. Medicare price is $45 /mo for husband's med and in donut hole is $350/mo now.

They need to know that we actually do not have that kind of money. It goes on a charge card for three months. What is it that they do not get nor why do they not care???? Makes me really upset.

[Jamastiene]

15. They are so far out of touch that they cannot

conceive of just how bad it is for people out here in America. They are too rich and privileged to even have the foggiest idea of what it is really like our here.

[4dsc]

4. MRI's cost less than $100 in France and Japan...

Both France and Japan have single payer systems for health care..

[Maestro]

48. I just had an MRI in October

It was in the neck and head region; 50 minutes or so in that "container." The bill, $4,500 and some change. I have insurance but I am still liable for $800.00 of the cost. Wow!

[rateyes]

6. I went to India a few years ago with a medical doctor who went to children's

homes and did check-ups on the kids there. We went to a pharmacy, and without a prescription bought a YEAR'S supply of penicillin for two homes of 50 kids each for a hundred dollars.

That same amount in the states would have cost several thousand.

[msongs]

9. the current administration prefers u pay high prices to maintain corporate profits nt

[aquart]

12. Because all those executives are really worth the money.

And irreplaceable, too.

[Bette Noir]

50. Ain't it a shame?

The whole "health care reform" bill, at least in the Senate, seemed to be designed so as to not cause the insurance/drug cartel to make not one dime less than now. Uh-- it's impossible to control costs without reducing the amount the insurance/drug companies skim off the top.

[Jamastiene]

13. What's really weird to me is that our own government

would need to ship drugs to another country, then re-import them back to America to reduce the costs (if that law ever went through, which it did not).

That is flipping ridiculous.

I cannot believe I am the only one who has noticed how preposterous that is. Somebody else HAS to have noticed this by now, right?

Why not keep some of those very same drugs to sell to Americans and save the gas money shipping them all over hell and half of Georgia?

There is something wrong when the prices cannot be set lower here in the first place. What happens to the drugs once they are sent to Mexico or Canada that reduces the price before they are sent BACK to America?

[Hello_Kitty]

16. Gosh, Jamastiene, that would make sense.

Can't have people going around doing that! ;)

[Jamastiene]

18. ...

:rofl:

[Posteritatis]

31. Canada has price controls on medication

They're generally negotiated with the manufacturers instead of just Thou Shalt-ed, but the prices are regulated nonetheless.

No idea how it works in Mexico, though.

[ekwhite]

43. Price Negotiations Happen

Canada and Mexico both negotiate prices with the pharmaceutical company before they import the drugs. Both countries require that the products be licensed in the US before they will accept it, and in fact US law forbids exporting unlicensed drugs from the US. In general, the only difference between US and Canadian or Mexican products is the labeling. I am a bit more cautious about buying from Mexico because of the rampant counterfeiting in Latin America. Canadian pharmacies are much less likely to sell counterfeit drugs because of the Canadian health care system.

[eleny]

14. I'm not religious but that's a sin to charge so much more

That's almost 5x more up here. How do they sleep at night? Maybe they take their own drugs.

[tonysam]

17. With no health insurance I can't afford an inhaler.

I really should have one since I am susceptible to asthma attacks in the winter, but I have to suffer instead.

[Triana]

19. That's the med that Kaiser Permenente Medicare Advantage DENIES for my Mom

they won't pay for it. They put her on some other crap that doesn't work. She CANNOT AFFORD $212 for any damned Rx on her meager income so she can't pay it herself and even if she could, K-P won't prescribe it for her. This is in the "Medicare Doughnut Hole" - so I guess it's Medicare that doesn't cover - but since K-P is paid by Medicare to administer the plan, they won't prescribe.

Mom is screwed.

If it was $45 - hell I'd buy it FOR her! But as is, I can't afford it either.

[iamtechus]

20. The Mexicans screwed them. Advair 250/50 from India costs $35 online.

It's not a generic. Same manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, same dispenser but different name, "Seretide". Other drugs, mostly generics, are much cheaper than in the US.

Many drugs sold in the US and Europe are manufactured in India and are approved by FDA and similar European agencies.

An Indian Pharmacy

edited to add link.

[Le Taz Hot]

34. Well I don't see a price difference of $10.00

as "screwing them." Besides, I don't have access to meds from India. Mexico is just a border run for me.

[SOCALS]

22. Do you think Obama knows about it?

And if he knows, why didn't he do anything about it?

[Dragonfli]

25. He campaigned to do something about it - but he lied (no really he did)

He guaranteed the drug companies there would be no bulk price negotiations for medicare (or health reform) nor would there be any re-importation of drugs to lower costs for citizens, all done in closed door negotiations (another lie there - remember the one about transparency).

What did WE get from the negotiations is unclear but I imagine sponsorship of the party via donations for Democrats was on the table somewhere, for the people maybe a slightly smaller yearly increase in prices, maybe nothing. It is hard to say when negotiations are secret and there is no transparency.

[Boxerfan]

24. They want $275.00 for Advair here...It's the only one I can take

The price is beyond outrageous!!

Lets start a real war on drugs-Drug prices!!

I was getting samples but I guess my Dr. couldn't get anymore. i'm down to 4 puffs on my last one....
I really need the damn things too. The steroid based ones give me a yeast infectionin my mouth-serious ich for days.

Wish I could take a trip across the border.

[XemaSab]

26. Asthma sucks

I spend about $300 a month for drugs with no insurance.

Insurance would be $600, PLUS the cost of the meds.

I didn't ask for this. x(

[Dappleganger]

37. WITH insurance our family has paid over $300 in a month's time...

from doctor's co-pays, medicine, etc. just from a couple of kids having pneumonia. This happens just about every year, often twice a year and is either bronchitis or double pneumonia. If it becomes a hospital stay then it goes up even more.

When my mother was still alive she used to send me her unopened Advair discs because she didn't like them and Medicaire took care of it for her.

[Douglas Carpenter]

29. I pay $4.80 for a Ventolin inhaler in Bahrain and about $7.00

in the Philippines.

Dental work is more dramatic. I paid about $270. for a root canal with a new porcelain crown in the Gulf and about $120.00 in the Philippines for the same.

[Echo In Light]

38. Sicko empire

[shadowknows69]

39. Spiriva costs about $180 a month. Without samples we couldn't afford it

[Lydia Leftcoast]

41. Back in the days when non-drowsy antihistamines were by prescription only

Allegra went from $57 a month to $84 a month over a period of two years. The excuse the drug companies give is that they have to recoup their research costs, but if that's the case, drugs should get cheaper, not more expensive, over time.

One of the happiest days of my recent life was when Claritin (which had been more expensive than Allegra when it was prescription) was approved for over-the-counter sale, and I was even happier when generic versions started appearing.

The prices of prescription drugs in Mexico are an open secret among seniors who winter in the Southwest. My grandmother once went to visit some friends who have a winter home in Texas and came home with all her standard meds at no more than half price each after a day trip across the border.

[SharonAnn]

51. Marketing is drug companies highest cost. Most research is paid by the taxpayer.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

42. Flying to Mexico once a year to stock up...

... is what one of my girlfriends (in her 40's) and her father would do in his small plane. They would fly from the family farm by Chamberlain, South Dakota, down to Mexico once a year to stock up on their asthma medicine that both of them needed. Since her father passed on a few years ago, she is stuck with paying the full retail price in the U.S.

[ekwhite]

44. She might want to check on Canadian pharmacies

that sell to us South of the Border types. South Dakota is a lot closer to Canada than to Mexico. From Google Maps, it looks as if you can take I90 east to I29N to the Canadian Border, and then Canada 75 to Winnipeg. I would suggest that a group of seniors in the area could charter a bus to Canada, buy 90 days worth of prescriptions, and still save money, including the cost of the charter bus and hotel in Winnipeg.

[SharonAnn]

52. My husband is from Chile. We can pay for tickets for 2 to Chile and buy his drugs there

for less than we pay for the drugs in the U. S.

So, I figure we get a "free" trip to visit family by doing it this way. The only problem was one year when his doctor changed his Rx for arrhythmia in the middle of the year.

[leftcoastie]

45. With ALL

my asthma medications (if I didn't have an HMO) I'd be paying close to $500+ a month for mine. My only option is to look into alternative methods to find out the root cause and see if I can effect my body's reactions. Yeah, it's not like I can stop taking the meds. One day I may not have my HMO and then I'll be screwed. Breathing or eating -- I wonder what I'll choose?

Perhaps a life of crime?

[femrap]

46. About 5 years ago, I

was ordering meds from Canada...I guess it was made illegal, but I still think one can order from other countries and I'd like to see if this Administration would arrest sick people for getting their meds half off.

The FDA might as just change its name CDFA...C standing for Corporate.

It's so f*cking fascist. Government and Corporations walking hand-in-hand down the path of excessive and greedy profits and endless terms in office.

[DesertDiamond]

49. Le Taz Hot, cost is not the only reason to find alternative therapies. Holistic medicine will

treat the symptoms, you can actually use it to return to good health. Whereas pharmaceuticals are not about regaining health, but about hooking you in and keeping you on those meds (at huge prices, with a long list of horrific side effects) and living a less than optimal quality of life until you die. My 88-year-old neighbor's meds were misplaced for two months and (being as they are super expensive) they couldn't afford to replace them. They took her to the doctor after two months without these meds that she allegedly needed to survive. The doctor said she was fine except her blood pressure was slightly high, and not even dangerously high. Who tells the doctors these meds are needed and effective? The people who sell them do!

Le Taz Hot, and anyone else reading this, if you aren't already looking into holistic healing, I encourage you to go to your local health food store and start learning about how to get well instead of just being maintained on meds. True there are some ineffective treatments out there from people either just trying make money or perhaps just using their own theories that are not sound. But if you really do your own research, you'll develop your own radar to know what you should be doing for your health. I use a book called Prescriptions for Nutritional Healing and it's never steered me wrong.

[Le Taz Hot]

53. I am absolutely a believer in the holistic approach.

The problem, I think, is with those of us who are chronic. I've tried a holistic approach with a variety of combinations of remedies. The specifics would be a lengthy post so I'll just say that, in my situation and with the remedies I've tried, the holistic remedies have proven ineffective. However, and statistically speaking, those suffering from lesser forms are far more numerous and will probably be able to greatly benefit from the holistic option.