Interesting happening at the pharmacy today.....

[gimmethesimplelife]

Early today I went to the pharmacy to pick up some medications. One was colchicine for gout - in the past few years this medication has sailed from .09 a tablet to 4.85 a tablet. Of course I am on Medicaid so I am not paying this but I don't like to see taxpayers on the hook for this level of corporate greed. So I picked up the refill and looked over the bottle as the bottle this time looked different.

And then I saw it - PRODUCT OF INDIA. I was so glad to see this - here is a way to not subsidize big US pharma AND get taxpayers off the hook for corporate greed. Prices of medications in India are so cheap that they make the prices in Mexico that I find so cheap look like highway robbery. Of course by time that bottle from India gets to the US, the contents may not be priced as cheap as they were in India - but still, improvement over US prices. I for one am relieved to see this and I hope to see more medications imported from saner priced countries such as India - I say way to go Banner Health Care/Arizona Medicaid! Rob

[razz]

How so you know that the content is the same? Whose job is lost in the US down the line for this package from India? Rob, there is always an opportunity cost to every price. What is the opportunity cost of the jobs lost, taxes not paid, transit not built etc?

[sweetana3]

If you had ever traveled to India for any period of time, you would question any manufactured product. Not necessarily unsafe, but wise to question extensively.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/15/world/asia/medicines-made-in-india-set-off-safety-worries.html?_r=0

Cost is only one part of the whole equation of purchase. Quality is important and reliability also.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I was not aware that drug re-importation had even been legalized. What's the status of that? I mean states have had their issues with the Feds with this (many states want to reimport to cut costs, Feds are paid off by Pharma) but has the law been changed or are they straight out fighting the Feds? Killing drug reimportation was actually a deal the Obama administration made to the pharmaceutical industry in getting Obamacare passed (a deal or a give away).

So India's standards are low lets say, but does anyone care to argue the same thing about Canada where it's also illegal to reimport drugs from? Drug reimportation is fought on alleged safety grounds, it's really to protect phamaceutical industry profits.

[gimmethesimplelife]

If you had ever traveled to India for any period of time, you would question any manufactured product. Not necessarily unsafe, but wise to question extensively.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/15/world/asia/medicines-made-in-india-set-off-safety-worries.html?_r=0

Cost is only one part of the whole equation of purchase. Quality is important and reliability also.I am not knocking what you say about India....I have never been there and really can't discuss it or defend it. I can however say that I have heard the same argument about hospitals/doctors/dentists/medications/optical services in Mexico and am grateful that America forced me to flee across the border and learn that with due dillegence, not only can you save money but also exceed quality of services in the US. As far as using the verb flee, I hold to that as economically I really had no choice but to flee. So I would tend to believe in India and it's meds - but I will also grant that due dilligence comes into play, too. A little off topic - India is reputed to be a wonderful place to have heart surgery at costs 80% less than in the US and there is no shortage of American medical tourists taking advantage of the cost savings at any one time. Rob

[gimmethesimplelife]

I was not aware that drug re-importation had even been legalized. What's the status of that? I mean states have had their issues with the Feds with this (many states want to reimport to cut costs, Feds are paid off by Pharma) but has the law been changed or are they straight out fighting the Feds? Killing drug reimportation was actually a deal the Obama administration made to the pharmaceutical industry in getting Obamacare passed (a deal or a give away).

So India's standards are low lets say, but does anyone care to argue the same thing about Canada where it's also illegal to reimport drugs from? Drug reimportation is fought on alleged safety grounds, it's really to protect phamaceutical industry profits.Your last sentence? +1000 and more! Rob

[JaneV2.0]

"So India's standards are low lets say, but does anyone care to argue the same thing about Canada where it's also illegal to reimport drugs from? Drug reimportation is fought on alleged safety grounds, it's really to protect phamaceutical industry profits." (ANM)

I couldn't agree more. In fact, you beat me to it.

[gimmethesimplelife]

How so you know that the content is the same? Whose job is lost in the US down the line for this package from India? Rob, there is always an opportunity cost to every price. What is the opportunity cost of the jobs lost, taxes not paid, transit not built etc?I'm not knocking you here, OK? At average American wages these days and at a cost of $4.85 a tablet, how many people can realistically afford to think this way? Seriously. At $4.85 a tablet, my blood personally runs very cold and I seek alternatives with no loyalty whatsoever- want loyalty? The pill can't skyrocket from nine cents each to four eighty five with no corresponding increase in my income if you want loyalty. In my case that just isn't going to happen. So I see your point, and I don't deny you have one - the problem is at today's wages vs. these kinds of skyrocketing costs, how many out there can afford to see this the way you have posted? Rob

[ApatheticNoMore]

The problem is inconsistency maybe. We don't have protectionism proper, I mean we really don't, American industry is not protected from foreign competion or outsourcing, not in the name of national self-sufficiency, or starting new industries or anything else. Much less is most labor protected (there are definitely exceptions, some more priviledged labor doubles up on state protection). And yet we don't actually have free trade proper either (or drug re-imporation would be 100% legal). If it seems like a rigged game, maybe it's because it is.