While politicians stand on their soapboxes and wail about high prescription-drug prices in the United States, a growing number of Americans are quietly finding a solution. By logging onto three different Web sites owned and run by Canadian pharmacists and entrepreneurs, U.S. residents are saving 20 percent to 50 percent, and occasionally more, on prescription drugs, even after dispensing and shipping fees. The Internet is a far more convenient alternative than the well- publicized bus trips to Canada organized for seniors last year by sympathetic legislators.
Government controls in Canada help keep prices low.
The FDA, however, is concerned mainly with policing large commercial shipments and isn't able to seize all, or even most, of the small parcels of medication arriving for personal use. Md. Canadian authorities, meanwhile, are considering new rules that would make it harder for Internet pharmacies based there to fill orders from the U.S. Demand for Canadian imports has been fueled as increasingly expensive drugs have hit the U.S. market in recent years. Another third have partial coverage, and the rest have no coverage at all. Last year, Congress passed legislation that would allow pharmacies and wholesalers to import drugs from certain countries and resell them here. But last month, implementation of the law was blocked by the Clinton administration, which said the law's many loopholes rendered it useless.