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posted by martyb on Tuesday October 30 2018, @11:49AM   Printer-friendly
from the what-about-Canada? dept.

Amid a flurry of national proposals to bring exorbitant U.S. drug prices in line with other countries’ charges, one Utah insurer has a different option for patients:

Pay them to go to Mexico.

PEHP, which covers 160,000 public employees and family members, is offering plane tickets to San Diego, transportation to Tijuana, and a $500 cash payout to patients who need certain expensive drugs for multiple sclerosis, cancer and autoimmune disorders.

“That money is pretty small in comparison to the difference between U.S. prices and Mexico prices,” said Travis Tolley, clinical operations director for PEHP.

The insurer rolled out its “pharmacy tourism” option this fall in response to state legislation requiring state employees’ insurance plans to offer “savings rewards,” or cash incentives, to patients who choose cheaper providers.

PEHP is offering pharmacy tourism benefits for about a dozen drugs for which the price disparity between countries is vast. For example, Avonex, which treats MS, costs about $6,700 for a 28-day supply in the U.S., but about $2,200 through PEHP’s contracted clinic in Tijuana.

For three months’ supply — the maximum allowed under the program — the savings of $13,500 more than covers the $500 reward and transportation, typically less than $300 per person.

[...] Patients who participate will fly to San Diego, be driven through a priority lane at the border crossing and arrive at a clinic, which PEHP director Chet Loftis described as “top-notch,” comparable to a Mayo or Cleveland clinic in the United States.

Medical tourism is not new; PEHP itself has previously offered coverage for out-of-country medical procedures. But without the cash incentives, patients haven’t used that option, Loftis said. Now that clients are eligible for up to $3,900 a year in reward payments for trips to Tijuana for procedures and drugs, Loftis said he hopes more will participate.

Source: https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/10/28/fight-high-drug-prices/


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  • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by VLM on Tuesday October 30 2018, @01:10PM (2 children)

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday October 30 2018, @01:10PM (#755614)

    This will provide corporate motivation to invade Mexico to squeeze more money out of the remaining workers in the USA.

    I would be nervous if I were in the Mexican government. The narcos want you bribed, killed, or seemingly preferably both, the USA oil companies want what drippy trickle remains of nationalized Pemex, the invader army needs some kind of showy reaction, now big pharma wants to team up with the narcos and kill em all to keep medical costs high. If we could just convince our leaders in Israel to dislike Mexico, then we'd have M1A1 tanks in Mexico City in about five days.

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  • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 30 2018, @09:32PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 30 2018, @09:32PM (#755805)

    What you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 30 2018, @09:49PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 30 2018, @09:49PM (#755818)

      'insane idioticy' works just fine within the today's corpocracy. It's unfair to blame the messenger for the world's insanity of the present.

      Want proof, you say? Read TFS again and assess if a state-sponsored healthcare tourism is not an admission of failure to protect the interest of the state's citizens.
      (don't get me started again on pointing to the fact US heathcare cost is 2 times higher than the next entry and over 3 times higher than the OECD average)