I read in today’s paper about a consumer group which is taking senior citizens across the border to buy prescription drugs. The group, The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, has organized what they call the Rx Express, offering twenty people a chartered trainride to Canada, where a Canadian doctor will examine them and prescribe appropriate drugs.
This is a token effort designed to get publicity, of course. But it publicizes an important issue that senior citizens deal with. Drug prices are spiraling out of control, sapping the meager savings of our older citizens, some of which are forced to do without other necessities in favor of refilling a presecription. It’s scary to think the life-saving medication I might need when I’m elderly could be priced prohibitively out of my reach.
The federal government bueracracy should not interfere with seniors’ right to purchase their medications from Canada. They’ve already banned internet buying (on the flimsiest of excuses). The train-rides to Canada are a great way to demonstrate that the problem has not gone away. Ride on!