ok, this thread is once again active! "Not so sure about the "unsual" I had cataract surgery and had two in one eye.!! Dr had never seen that before. When the other eye developed the expected cataract there were 3. They took photos and documented the removal but no write up in JAMA .That I'm aware of . He did give me a 3 for one price break though lol. gary" Gary, If you were 'normal', you wouldn't need eye surgery. Whatever your surgeon finds under a microscopic view is a 'bonus' . Be grateful that you weren't "written-up" ! I had cataract surgeries done at age 54. After the second one was completed, the surgeon remarked that the odds of my dual responses were 1:10,000. As far as she was concerned, a once in a career event. She was excited. I didn't give a s*#t She didn't give me any discounts. IF she had given me a discount, I might have been excited except that the surgeries were covered 100% by my insurance plans. No complaints. --Stitz--

Ms. Weed, I don't have any personal experience with buying meds in Canada, but I would do it if I had to and not blink an eye, as long as I kept in mind, "caveat emptor." In my mind Canada has a much better health system than the US, but maybe I'm being too political here. Prescription drug prices are just ridiculous. I'm a biologist and I've heard all the excuses for the high costs and I'm not buying them. But the real reason I wanted to add to this post is just to tell you that you are a real "mensch" for helping out your neighbor. That's Yiddish for a truely decent human being. The great thing about buying online is the meds. would come right to your neighbor's house so the picking up issue would not be there. There is a possibility that she could get a discount through her insurance company for buying online and in three month increments. I know I get somewhat of a discount on my thyroid meds. that way. But that medication is cheap anyway. The problem is when these pharmecutical companies have an exclusive patent on some new drug. I understand a lot of money went into developing the drugs, but I also understand the level of profit Glaxo Smith Klein makes and why they have to make it to survive. But that doesn't bring the greater good for middle income people's health. Like you said, there's help if you are desperately poor, but most people are not in that situation. Instead, they just have to scrape by. I have the same issue with my medications. The doctor gives me heck when I say I don't take this or that medication she prescribes or get this or that test. I tell her to get real. We do what we have to do to get by.

mcpeg, I'm an American and certainly take no offense to your concern and I would agree totally if in your position. That said, I should add that I have problems with all the people coming here for free health care too. People come from Mexico to have children here to be covered by US care at taxpayer expense and to the detriment of other citizens. I don't think that's right. Our state has a more lenient welfare system than many others and we get busloads of people who come in for a weekend to make claims, collect payments and go home. I don't mind helping out, but I don't like being taken advantage of. The problem of course is the laws of our respective countries and states/provinces. Just like the US is too stupid to tax actors who make millions and have their residency elsewhere, including Canada ;) (Dan Akroyd, Michael J. Fox, Adam Sandler, etc) and pay no taxes here. I don't think that's right either. But we have a dyslexic dimwit in the, well, I won't get into politics, not appropriate. But I do think you are justifiably concerned about it and I for one, share your dissatisfaction, and you needn't be sorry for feeling that way.

Please do not buy drugs online. It's not safe and it's illegal. Online "Canadian" pharmacies are often not even located in Canada. The websites are an outright lie. And "pharmacies" located in Canada are not regulated like real pharmacies unless they actually do business in Canada with Canadian patients. If you want medications from Canada, go to a real physical pharmacy that dispenses to Canadian patients. And since drug names are different in different countries, make absolutely sure both the brand and generic name of the medication is written on the prescription as well as what it is for. That way if there are any questions, that information can be important for the pharmacist to determine if clarification is needed. For example, when Bextra was available in the US, it was a brand name anti-inflammatory medicine. In at least one European country that brand name was for blood pressure medicine, a completely different drug. Brand names are made up for recognition and marketing, while generic names are the chemical name for the medicine molecule, which can vary slightly from region to region but are pretty consistent. In addition, if he US regulations on importation and manufacturing keep our drug supply reasonably safe. We have, at least as of a few years ago, about a 2-3% counterfeit rate. Many other countries buy on the world market which has about 8-10% , or higher in some regions, rate. Drugs purchased online are even worse, as they are often completely outside the medical system of any country and completely unregulated. There was a great article in I think Health magazine if I remember correctly back about 6 or so years ago that followed an investigation of medicines purchased online. It was astounding how bad things were. And some of the "manufacturing" facilities they had pictures of I wouldn't step inside even with a whole truckload of bleach and sanitizer at my side! At the very least, any physical or online pharmacy that does not require an exam by a healthcare provider and an actual prescription should be avoided like the plague. Any online pharmacy that is not VIPPS registered should also be avoided. Please remember criminals lie, so any site claiming to be VIPPS registered should then be verified by searching the registry, not by linking through that website to verify! Working with your doctor or pharmacist for suggestions is helpful. If you use multiple pharmacies, PLEASE keep a list of ALL your medications and ask each pharmacy to enter them on your profile for screening. Paying out of pocket takes away the only screening tool the pharmacy has for seeing major interactions with meds from other places, IF your insurance company provides those alerts to them. Pharmacy shopping and paying cash puts a lot of responsibility on YOU to make sure your medications are safe, so do your best to keep everyone involved well informed. It's in your best interest.