Are prescription drug prices in Canada lower than in the United States?

Medications are not cheap. Let’s be honest, one of the bigger individual expenses in our lives, when we need them, are medications and other medical needs. Why is this? Well, there’s some complex politics there that we’re not going to get into for obvious reasons, but one of the more practical things, something that simply can’t be avoided, is the fact that medications have to be imported.

Most medications are manufactured overseas, because this is a global economy. Even American brands do a lot of their manufacturing elsewhere, because that’s just where the infrastructure for it is. Thus, it has to be imported, which results in inspections, tight controls and so forth for safety purposes. All of this is naturally going to cause prices go up on any imported good. This cannot be avoided, and you would not want this tight control and procedural handling of things to be lifted. It would cost lives, and nobody wants that.

So, why are prescription drug prices in Canada lower than in the United States?

Government Subsidization

The Canadian government is very similar on a granular level to that of the United States. This isn’t that surprising, because on a good day, such a system works pretty well. There are some differences, however, and how government subsidies and relationships with corporations work. While, again, we won’t get into the deep politics of it, let’s just say that higher taxes result in some subsidization of costs for medication and other things. In other words, the medications themselves are cheaper, though everyone is still paying the price for them in the form of various taxes.

As the person in the United States, you can actually take advantage of this, and in the long run, probably save quite a bit more on your medications than the Canadian citizens actually are at the end of the day.

Is it legal to order medications from Canada?

It is absolutely legal to order medications from Canada, or to cross the border yourself, by them, and bring them back. As long as it is an FDA-approved medication, and with exceptions, not some sort of highly-controlled substance, nothing is going to stop you.

It is in fact, believe it or not, quite illegal for the United States to stop you from importing things from other nations with which we have trade agreements. It is understandable how this might sound like something that they wouldn’t allow, and there are certainly companies out there that probably wish it wasn’t.

Is it safe to order medications from Canada?

If you’re doing your research on prescription drug prices in Canada through a reputable pharmacy, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. As long as they have the proper web certifications, and Canadian and/or American pharmaceutical certifications, you’re a safe as you are when you buy medications from your local pharmacy.

There’s a way to save even more money!

When you do your research on this, if you actually look for generic alternatives to the medication you seek, you can probably save quite a bit more money still. These generics are identical to the brand-name medications, equal in potency, usually with the same exact dosages, etc. The only really significant difference is going to be cosmetic, if even that.

Especially now, doing everything through the Internet that possibly can be done is just the way of things. You can save money, and be safer too!