Elisa Jaring has been fighting breast cancer for almost three years, relying largely on prescription drugs she buys in Canada for a fraction of what she would pay in the United States. Then the pharmacist told her she needed to start bringing prescriptions from a Canadian doctor for insurance purposes. Now she's in a bind. The cost of prescription drugs has become a political rallying cry across the United States, particularly where Americans can slip across to Mexico or Canada to take advantage of lower prices. Some U.S. officials want to make it easier for Americans to lower their pharmaceutical bills.
Many countries control drug prices.
Drug makers say they sell their products for higher prices in the United States in part to support the costs of developing new drugs - hence the runs across the border. After all, U.S. law allows individual Americans to buy prescriptions abroad as long as the drugs are prescribed by a U.S. doctor, intended for personal use and transported in the original container. But U.S. distributors are barred from doing the same thing. Still, consumers are anxious for a better deal. To prove it, Sanders organized a trip to a Montreal doctor on Wednesday for Ms. Jaring and four other women.