Canadians Being Gouged

[ChrisC]

For the last 2 years I have bought online with my old (almost 8 year old) prescription for about 1/4 of the price for machines and masks as well as everything else cpap related. I will be continuing to do that unless there are significant changes in Ontario.

My drug plan is a huge PITA. I planned on paying the ADP co-pay out of my pocket and picking up a travel CPAP machine with battery to bill through my insurance plan. They have a limit of one machine/lifetime and I have a $7500 therapeutic equipment rider in my plan. They refused, saying that they only would pay the co-pay and would not fund a full ADP machine purchase. Sneaky buggers..

[nanwilson]

Alberta won't pay for cpap either, and we're supposed to be the "oil/gas rich" province. I'm a senior and a widow, with no help at all paying for my machine. What I've got is what I could afford, at least it will keep me alive!!
Cheers
Nan

[torontoCPAPguy]

It's the inverse of Yanks getting gouged by the prices of prescription drugs compared with what Canadians (or, for that matter, Mexicans) pay. FDA says it cannot guarantee the quality of Canadian prescription drugs (as though Canadians have been dropping dead from inferior prescription drugs), and at one time was considering asking U. S. Customs to seize medicine imported from Canada. So far, they haven't done that.

I thought NAFTA meant "free trade", like the name says. But no. I wonder why? Surely it couldn't be due to corruption in high places.

FWIW, I have a good friend who was the national sales manager for a very large and prominent drug manufacturer. His largest suppliers? US based. His largest customers? US based.

Don't let them bamboozle you. The drugs being made in Canada are headed stateside and vice-versa. The ingredients are exactly the same. It is only the POLITICS and PALM GREASING that is different. In Canada they get caught but don't go to jail so prices are lower.

[howkim]

FDA says it cannot guarantee the quality of Canadian prescription drugs (as though Canadians have been dropping dead from inferior prescription drugs), and at one time was considering asking U. S. Customs to seize medicine imported from Canada. So far, they haven't done that.

This problem, as I see it, is not that folks are ordering from Canadian pharmacies and getting counterfit drugs, it's that they're ordering from "Canadian" pharmacies (that say they're located in Canada but are not) and are getting counterfit drugs.

[M.D.Hosehead]

Howkim, I never thought about that angle; too trusting, I guess. It's obvious that someone will try that scam.

I'm not making a political statement here, as that is guaranteed to start a flame war. I'm making a practical point about the amount individuals have to pay for their medicines. If I'm wrong about this, I'll retract the following:

I don't think your valid point eliminates influence-peddling in Washington as a consideration.

Pharmaceutical companies charge American pharmacies more than they charge Canadian/Mexican ones at the wholesale level. One of their explanations is that liability insurance in the US costs more. Whatever their reasons, they oppose a free market in pharmaceuticals among the countries in NAFTA, and have managed to prevent it, partly via decisions/actions in the US Congress and at the FDA.

Skeptics (I admit I am one) think they want to continue charging whatever the traffic will bear in different countries. And that, in turn, depends upon the laws and policies of the respective governments.

As an example, Medicare part D, as enacted, pays for prescription drugs, no matter what pharmaceutical companies charge for them. I think I've read that in Canada, the government negotiates the wholesale price pharmaceutical suppliers can charge. Here, ineffective attempts to control expenditures are made by an expensive bureaucracy at the level of the individuals, who, though they have to jump through more hoops, eventually receive the more expensive drugs at the prices set by pharmaceutical companies.

[kempo]

Hey, I thought all Canadians had "FREE HEALTH CARE". That's what the politicians in Washington D.C. having been saying and the USA was the only country that didn't have it. Another lie. Who would have thunk it. (sarc. off).

[bearded_two]

Canadians do have free health care; they don't have prescription coverage. Most US health insurance does the same thing -- it covers health care but not prescription coverage. Canadians have dramatically lower prescription medication prices, but they can't get lower cost mail order CPAP equipment.

[cpap'er]

Hey, I thought all Canadians had "FREE HEALTH CARE". That's what the politicians in Washington D.C. having been saying and the USA was the only country that didn't have it. Another lie. Who would have thunk it. (sarc. off).

We do have free healthcare meaning we dont pay to visit the doctor or the hospital but thats it....god help us if we need a prescription especially if you have to be on for the long term. If your lucky enough to have medical insurance thru work or privately on your own you can get your drugs a little cheaper but depending on your province where some have assistance programs to help with CPAP while my province doesnt help at all and CPAP is not cheap here as i mentioned before....

[kempo]

Hey, I thought all Canadians had "FREE HEALTH CARE". That's what the politicians in Washington D.C. having been saying and the USA was the only country that didn't have it. Another lie. Who would have thunk it. (sarc. off).

We do have free healthcare meaning we dont pay to visit the doctor or the hospital but thats it....god help us if we need a prescription especially if you have to be on for the long term. If your lucky enough to have medical insurance thru work or privately on your own you can get your drugs a little cheaper but depending on your province where some have assistance programs to help with CPAP while my province doesnt help at all and CPAP is not cheap here as i mentioned before....

No Sir, you do not have "FREE HEALTH CARE". You and every citizen of Canada pays for it. It's called taxes! Nothing is FREE.

[BlackSpinner]

No Sir, you do not have "FREE HEALTH CARE". You and every citizen of Canada pays for it. It's called taxes! Nothing is FREE.

True but me and every citizen and every landed immigrant gets all their medical care without ever seeing a bill and it never gets cut off. Except for some provinces - drugs are covered by insurance.

[cpap'er]

No Sir, you do not have "FREE HEALTH CARE". You and every citizen of Canada pays for it. It's called taxes! Nothing is FREE.

Very true....we do take it up the backside pretty hard with taxes in this country....then they give it to us one more time when you need to buy a CPAP machine....lol

[DaveL]

Right on!

Ontario--pay too much; don't get to choose equipment (specially masks!) My DME provides a DIS-service! So I've changed DME's finally. I'm not proud to say that I was a customer of my DME for 10 years. How stupid of me!

This forum has made the difference for me. I'm confident that I shall make better decisions in future. In the meantime, it's imperative that I find a new Sleep Specialist. Mine was part of the DME scam.

You're right--I could get a US machine for less than the Cdn price LESS the government subsidy, that occurs every 5 years. Except in my case, through my Sleep Specialist, it was 9 years!

I feel strongly that we don't have a health care system in Canada, we have a health management system. And it's failing terribly.

[roster]

I feel strongly that we don't have a health care system in Canada, we have a health management system. And it's failing terribly.

In the U.S., we have governments involved in a big way. In 2008, government programs (Medicare, Medicaid and others) paid 48% of all medical costs and in 2010 it will be over 50%. Over the years this has lead to large increases in costs and a very inefficient bureacracy. It is well known for millenium that people aren't as careful with spending when it is other people's money.

Despite this fact we are going even deeper into government-run medicine. We are going to create a total wreck.

Maybe you guys can lead in getting your system straightened out and we can use you as an example of reform.

[BlackSpinner]

I feel strongly that we don't have a health care system in Canada, we have a health management system. And it's failing terribly.

In the U.S., we have governments involved in a big way. In 2008, government programs (Medicare, Medicaid and others) paid 48% of all medical costs and in 2010 it will be over 50%. Over the years this has lead to large increases in costs and a very inefficient bureacracy. It is well known for millenium that people aren't as careful with spending when it is other people's money.

Despite this fact we are going even deeper into government-run medicine. We are going to create a total wreck.

Maybe you guys can lead in getting your system straightened out and we can use you as an example of reform.

Yes but we like our lower infant mortality, not mortgaging our homes when we need medical care and not watching people die from lack of care. Our health might be "managed" but the other option means slow death to many. When are you going to really study the difference Rooster? All of it is consolidated - no 50 different levels overlapping with insurance companies who call the shots. Just get rid of it all and go the Canadian route. The example has been set you people don't have to reinvent to wheel you know, you just actually have to learn to read and study. Our health care cost less per person then your "wonderful" system does.

[ChrisC]

Hey, I thought all Canadians had "FREE HEALTH CARE". That's what the politicians in Washington D.C. having been saying and the USA was the only country that didn't have it. Another lie. Who would have thunk it. (sarc. off).

We do have free healthcare meaning we dont pay to visit the doctor or the hospital but thats it....god help us if we need a prescription especially if you have to be on for the long term. If your lucky enough to have medical insurance thru work or privately on your own you can get your drugs a little cheaper but depending on your province where some have assistance programs to help with CPAP while my province doesnt help at all and CPAP is not cheap here as i mentioned before....

No Sir, you do not have "FREE HEALTH CARE". You and every citizen of Canada pays for it. It's called taxes! Nothing is FREE.

It's like having "free roads" or "free firefighters" in that you don't go bankrupt if your house catches on fire and the fire department comes to put it out. The stark opposition to socialized medicine in the US has always baffled me. The concept is in place for emergency services, education and a plethora of other services. Sure, fundamentally, the healthcare here in Canada isn't "free": an omniscient third-party isn't paying for it.. but it's "free" in terms of how much we have to cough up (excuse the pun) whenever we're sick.