Today, after several weeks of procrastination, I finally visited one of the pharmacies on my commercial. I was just about to the bottom of my medication and needed a refill. I'd put it off long enough.
While I was home over break, I stocked up on a few over-the-counter and some perscription drugs. When you're sick and you open your medicine cabinet, it's just nice to know that what you have works for you. No trying out something new after stumbing through a poorly translated conversation with the pharmacist.
Also, I'd found while home that the medication I needed was not covered by my new insurance plan. The pharmacist at home had tried to see if there were substitutes but alas none. When I asked how much the cost, thinking, I'll just suck it up and pay for what I want. The reply. USD$200. What!??! I asked him to repeat. Unfortunately the reply was the same. Grrrr. That left me with the Brazil option. Try and see what they can do for me. The reason being...
Here a lot of the perscription drugs we have in the U.S. are over-the-counter. Included in those range from birth control to allergy medicines to lots I probably don't even realize are. Well, as I geared up (really psyched myself for my trip - it was truly about the Portuguese) I went to the pharmacy on my commericial today. I was hopeful the medication I needed would be on that list of easily available drugs. The cost of drugs on that list also seems to be signifcantly less expensive.
Prior to my visit, I'd been chatting with a friend who had found the same medication in Brazil, brought her along and hoped we'd get lucky. If she could do it, I'm sure I could.
I brought my medication with me to the pharmacy and after saying a brief good afternoon, the pharmacist instantly asked if generic was ok. Definitely. I LOVE generic. The cost was R$35 for about half the size of what I got at home.
Had I paid the full crazy inflated drug price in the US, I would have been out $200. In Brazil, I got the same perscription drug. If I match quantities, I would have paid R$70 which is approximately USD$35.
So people, do the math. That's a $165 difference. I could go into the whys and frustrations of perscription drugs in the U.S. but I think for now I'll just say "Hooray for Brazilian drugs and pharmacies!" I definitely need to get over my language failure fears and just appreciate the money you save me daily.
Found your blog not long ago and subscribed; I know the language barrier is challenging but my pharmacist at the top of my street is like my best friend, lol. They are super relaxed on Rx drugs here, for my birth control pills I take the empty pack and give them to the guy, no Rx needed. Sometimes I go there and say, I have this problem, xyz and the guy gives me something that works. No doctor needed. Even when you have an Rx from an MD here, they never (at least so far I've never seen) them actually keep or record your Rx, so you can use it again and again because they probably have no date on them either, mine never have. Public health = doctors aren't a business = pharmacists more helpful & non-addictive/super harmful drugs easy to get.
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