Minnesota seniors group strikes Canadian drug deal
Warren Wolfe
Star Tribune
startribune.com
Published Jan. 22, 2003 DRUG22
After years of unsuccessfully lobbying for government price controls on prescription drugs, the Minnesota Senior Federation announced Tuesday that it has negotiated an agreement under which any member can get drugs mailed from Canada at about half the U.S. retail price.
"This is not the best solution to the outrageous price of drugs," said Kate Stahl, 83, former president of the federation's metro region who helped negotiate the contract. "But it's the best we can do until our government leaders get the guts to stand up to the drug companies."
Seniors' organizations in Wisconsin and Indiana joined the federation in negotiating the agreement with CanadaRx, a six-year-old Toronto firm that mails drugs to U.S. residents. Similar groups from other states are in talks to join, officials said.
Miriam Reibold
Carlos Gonzalez
Star Tribune
Under the program, anyone can join the advocacy group and ask his or her physician to mail or fax prescriptions for any of about 1,800 drugs to CanadaRx. On average, prices are about 45 percent cheaper than in the United States, federation officials said.
Because it takes two or three weeks to get the prescriptions, officials said most users will be people who regularly take drugs to treat heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis or other chronic conditions.
"This is really a pretty big deal for Minnesotans, especially older Minnesotans," said Jim Varpness, executive director of the Minnesota Board on Aging at the state Department of Human Services.
"The high cost of prescription drugs has been a major issue in the aging community for years," he said. "We're still hoping that Congress this year will offer a drug benefit with Medicare. But 80 percent of seniors take at least one prescription drug, and half of seniors have no drug insurance. So this is important."
'Legal gray area'
The program benefits anyone who uses it, but also lowers costs for insurers that offer a drug benefit to older people, federation officials said.
However, the program is operating in "a legal gray area," said Pete Wyckoff, executive director of the federation's metro region.
In 2000 Congress repealed a law prohibiting individuals from reimporting U.S.-made drugs, but the Clinton and Bush administrations refused to implement the program. Several years ago, the Food and Drug Administration sent letters to some Americans ordering drugs by mail, warning that their drugs might be confiscated.
"Since then, there's been no effort to stop the shipments of prescriptions, and the number of companies now offering prescriptions from Canada on the Internet or through the mail has greatly increased," Wyckoff said.
The Senior Federation has been among the most active statewide seniors organization in the nation, frequently lobbying at the Legislature and working on retirement, health care, housing and other areas.
The federation has about 25,000 members statewide, and the prescription drug program -- open only to members -- is expected to add about 1,000 members this year, Wyckoff said.
The Minnesota, Wisconsin and Indiana groups were brought together by the National Coalition of Consumer Organizations, a group of senior advocacy organizations. It is led by Miriam Reibold, 85, of West St. Paul, a former president of the federation's metro region who also helped negotiate the prescription drug contract.
"This program ought to tell people something about the value of our seniors," Reibold said. "We are not to be pitied or feared. We are to be respected and admired for what we do to help our citizens of all ages."
Canadian prices
The program is similar to reimportation programs offered by private companies, but the federation said its Canadian Prescription Re-importation Drug Program is cheaper.
The federation earlier this month compared prices of 13 commonly prescribed drugs and found that program participants paid about one-third of the average Twin Cities prices charged by Walgreen's, Wal-Mart or Rainbow Foods pharmacies, federation officials said.
That group of drugs also was 15 to 41 percent cheaper than from five other Canadian-import groups, officials said.
Under the agreement, CanadaRx sells its drugs to members of the American seniors organizations at the same retail price set by the Canadian government for its citizens.
Prices offered federation members are slightly higher, reflecting a 5-percent federation fee and a pharmacy charge of about $5. Shipping costs of $10 to $25 per order are added to that.
For instance, 100 tablets of Celebrex, used to treat arthritis, cost an average of $172.15 at the three Twin Cities pharmacies checked earlier this month, but they are $67.37, including $10 for shipping, under the federation program.
And 100 tablets of Lipitor to lower cholesterol averaged $310.18 in the Twin Cities and $156.26, including shipping, from the federation program.
"Not all savings are that good, and some are even higher in Canada than here," Wyckoff cautioned. "But then there's Tamoxifen," used for breast cancer prevention, which in the Twin Cities costs $377.66 for 100 tablets and only $41.41 through the federation's program.
"If you have a 50-50 co-pay with Blue Cross, you can see why Blue Cross likes those lower prices, and so do our members," he said.
-- Warren Wolfe is at wolfe@startribune.com. |
