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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/
(Score: 5, Insightful) by fishybell on Tuesday October 30 2018, @01:14PM (1 child)
I don't always feel compelled to talk about Utah when it is mentioned here, but I did hear about this one on the radio, and do indeed feel compelled to comment.
While the radio station I listen to — a very liberal station — thought this was a horrible idea, and instead we should have a single-payer health system, I disagree wholeheartedly. If the state of Utah had any ability to create a country-wide single-payer system, I think that that would be a better answer, but they don't. Other countries can negotiate lower drug prices because the whole country is a market or not based on the outcome of the negotiation. If Utah had a state-wide single-payer system, the market of Utah would pale in comparison to say, the country of Mexico or Canada.
Some of the numbers they were quoting showed that the price of the flight (~$300), the cash to the patient ($500), and the cost of a 90-day supply of the drug — at a specifically licensed pharmacy in Tijuana — was often times a third what the insurer would pay here in Utah. While it may seem inconvenient to take a day off of work to fly out to San Diego, go through customs (practically non-existent going through the California/Mexico border to Mexico), drive to Tijuana, buy a drug at a specific pharmacy, drive back to San Diego going through what is definitely a pain in customs, and fly back to Utah, I would do it for $500 every 90 days. It would be like a little mini-vacation to a fun town full of fun things to do.
That and the liquor in Utah is very expensive compared to what you could bring back from Tijuana.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 30 2018, @06:59PM
Do you guys still have to put your bartenders behind a giant burka?