Articles > Online Prescriptions

Across-the-Border Bargains
Ordering Prescription Drugs Online From Canada Is Cheaper

By Bill Redeker

D E N V E R, Colo., March 8

Colorado businessman Don Bozarth got the idea while trying to take care of his mother-in-law.

"I discovered pharmaceutical prices had doubled in the past 10 years," he said. "And as you know, most seniors who are on Medicare have no prescription coverage."

So he looked around for less expensive prescription drugs. He found them in Canada. "Everyone's seen the articles about seniors getting on buses and going to Canada but I believed there must be an easier way," said Bozarth.

After carefully studying the law, he discovered it was possible to place orders over the Internet — as long as there was a prescription and a doctor in Canada willing to review it and write the same prescription.

Carollee Hatch, 74, who is battling breast cancer, was one of the first customers. "In Canada, my tamoxifen would be $13.95, plus the $20 co-pay. Here in the United States I was paying $187! It's a tremendous savings," she said.

Hatch also buys her husband Claude's medicines through the company and says she is saving enough money to take a vacation this summer.

Sister Mary Kay Kottenstette, a 64-year-old nun and part-time Spanish teacher, is also sold on the plan. She is taking three medications to treat high cholesterol, gout and thyroid problems. "I have no health insurance, I only make $15,000 a year and I can't spend it all on medicines," she said. "Last year, I spent $1,068 on these three drugs; Lipitor, allopurinol and Synthroid. This year I'll be spending about $640. The savings are absolutely amazing!"

FDA Won't Punish Seniors

The Food and Drug Administration says that technically the practice violates federal laws. But a spokesman says the FDA looks the other way and does not enforce them. "We don't want to punish seniors," he said.

The FDA also says it cannot guarantee the purity of the drugs from Canada. But the truth is, in most cases, the drugs are identical.

When pressed on how she felt about the legality of all of this, Kottenstette was blunt. "You know what? When the laws are unjust, I really don't care," she said. "There are so many people without health insurance, without the means to take care of themselves, and it just isn't just."

Bozarth says demand is picking up and he plans to expand his service. He is careful to point out that all his company is allowed to do is assist those who have questions and need help placing their orders.

"The prescription drugs are mailed directly to the patients from a pharmacy in Winnipeg, Manitoba," he says. "I make a small percentage from the price of the prescription."

What's to keep the rest of us from ordering our prescriptions from Canada?

"Absolutely nothing," he says. "In fact if the trend continues, perhaps it will force the drug companies to do something about their high prices."