A co-worker was chatting with me today and we got around to talking about health insurance issues. I described the situation with my medications and the bind Aetna is placing me in with respect to nonformulary medications. Just to summarize: starting 1 January, the medication prescribed by my doctor will cost more than 3 times what it did in 2009; the option that is cheaper is a generic medication that my doctor has never prescribed. Since this generic medication is a schedule 2 drug, the DEA mandates that i see the specialist once every 4 to 6 weeks. The savings to Aetna are thereby wiped out. The medication may cost them less but seeing a specialist 10 times more a year than before will not come cheaply. (I've already detailed this issue in previous posts.)
So, he said to me: why not go to Canada? You can get the medication preferred by your doctor for a fraction of the cost. They even have a generic version available. He suggested that maybe I could even just take a prescription from my doctor and get it filled in Canada.
I told him i would research it.
My gut reaction is that there is surely a kink. Why would a Canadian pharmacy honor a prescription from a US doctor? Even if they would, surely this wouldn't be legal?
If it were doable and legal and only required a trip across the border, then why wouldn't more US citizens take advantage of the savings? I know some elderly US citizens have actually gone to Canada for their meds. Is it legal? Is it possible?
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