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Congress OKs Drug Shopping Trips To Canada

Market Forces May Yet Reduce Cost of Prescription Drugs

September 23, 2006

• Kmart, Schnucks Expand Generic Rx Discounts • Coming Soon: Generic Drugs from China • Safeway Introduces Generic Drug Discounts • Medicaid Cuts 'Devastating,' Pharmacies Warn • Kroger Expands Its Generic Drug Discount Program • Supermarkets Launch Generic Drug Discount Programs • Drug Prices Can Vary Widely, Survey Finds • Wal-Mart Adds More Generic Drugs To Discount Plan • FDA Finds Problems with Online Drugs • Wal-Mart Expands $4 Generic Program • Walgreens.com's Pharmacy Gets Top Rating • Popular Blood Pressure Drug Goes Generic • Wal-Mart Expands Generic Drug Plan • Consumers Get Little Drug Price Information From Their Doctors • Florida Pharmacy Offers Generics Online for $3.79 • Wal-Mart Adds 12 More States To $4 Drug Program • Wal-Mart Expands $4 Generic Drug Program To 14 More States • Report: Shopping Around Beats Medicare Drug Prices • Drugs by Mail: Money Saver or Rx for Disaster? • Wal-Mart Expands Its Generic Drug Discounts • Feds Give Up on Canadian Drug Crackdown • Target Matches Wal-Mart's $4 Generic Rx Price • Congress OKs Drug Shopping Trips To Canada • Seniors Bemoan "Donut Day" • Wal-Mart Cuts Generic Rx Prices To $4 In Florida • AARP: Drug Prices Still Rising • Illinois Sues 48 Drug Companies • Pharmacy Benefit Managers Scrutinized • Survey Shows Value of Comparison Shopping --- • Medicare News

First Wal-Mart offers $4 generic drug prescriptions, now Congress approves cross-border drug purchases in Canada, where prescriptions sell for less.

The race appears to be on to see who can offer consumers the cheapest prescription drugs.

A day after the nation's largest retailer announced its generic drug discounts, the House and Senate reached agreement on legislation allowing U.S. citizens to bring a three-month supply of prescription medication back home with them when they visit Canada.

U.S. consumers have increasingly looked to the north for help in obtaining cheaper prescriptions. In Canada, government price controls on medication means that many sought-after drugs sell for up to 80 percent less than they do in the U.S.

The new legislation, part of a Homeland Security appropriations bill making its way through Congress, would stop U.S. customs agents from their practice of seizing prescription medicines purchased in Canada, as long as the quantity is a 90-day supply or less.

The legislation requires consumers to actually travel to Canada to purchase the drugs. It would still be against the law to order prescriptions from Canadian pharmacies by Internet or mail order.

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