Rx ‘Maverick’ – Mark Cuban’s New Cost Plus Pharmacy
The US Federal Government has been trying to find a way to provide Americans with better access to affordable medication. It now appears that successful entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks NBA team owner Mark Cuban has beat them to the punch. Earlier this year Cuban introduced his Cost Plus Online Pharmacy that is set to provide Americans with just that – the ability to purchase medication at lower costs so they are not put in difficult situations with affordability. The one interesting thing to note here as compared to a Canadian online pharmacy like ours is that Cost Plus will only sell generic medication.
Not that there is anything wrong with that. We regularly promote generic medication as the best cost-effective alternative for people, and are always reminding people that generic medications do not go into production until they are proven to be equally pure, safe, and effective as their branded version counterpart. The standard 5 years that need to pass before a drug’s patent expires and generic drugs can be made is a part of why drugs are expensive in America.
Cost Plus Pharmacy is going to be a very welcome solution for a lot of people. One of the primary objectives Cuban has put in place for Cost Plus is that it plans to be more transparent with how it prices its medication prescription, and that starts with how the pharmacy got its name. Cost Plus means Cost Plus 15%, and the limit on the plus side of that is how this new online pharmacy alternative is going to allow American to pay less for generic medications while they pay in cash.
Limited Selection – To Start
Good things take time to build, and that may well apply to an affordable online pharmacy too. Many Americans have been taking advantage of the fact that they can order medication online from Canada, but obviously paying cash for it has never been a possibility. Cost Plus Pharmacy will require you to submit a prescription online in the same way we do, but there are big advantages for many people with the way they can pay cash for generic medication and avoid having to go through their insurance or Medicare Part D.
The plan is for Cost Plus Pharmacy to have 100 different generic drugs available through the website by the end of 2022, and there will be more generic medications becoming available from that point onward. Having better prices on drugs is in large part made possible by avoiding the middlemen that have always existed in the chain between the drug manufacturer and the pharmacist’s counter. Cuban’s pharmacy is also setting itself up to be able to avoid many of the realities of supply chain logistics in pharmaceuticals that add up for the end user or OOP (out-of-pocket) costs for patients.
The one counter to all of this is the fact that many Americans who rely on Medicare Part D for their prescription drugs may still not have the cash needed to buy these generic drugs as compared to what is provided to them as a co-pay arrangement through the program. In these instances, it may still be best to have your prescription filled in Canada online and remember that generic medication is priced lower in Canada the same way it is in the United States. Another consideration is the cost of insulin – it is a medication that is always needed by the hundreds of thousands of diabetics in North America and it is often prohibitively expensive too.
Some Still Less Up North
There is no debate that the new Cost Plus Pharmacy for Americans is something to be applauded, as there has been such a longstanding need for lower prices on prescription and generic drugs. The company has made strategic choices about which medications to start offering first, and it’s likely they will do the same looking to what will be available throughout 2023.
There are still some generic medications that cost less in Canada, and may be ones that you will continue to pay more for at any type of new American online pharmacy. Asthma is one of the more common chronic health conditions around the world, and asthmatics rely on asthma inhalers to deal with the breathing challenges that come with an asthma attack. The Ventolin asthma inhaler is a popular one, and this is often one medication that you will always find for less when ordering asthma inhalers from Canada.
Another type of generic medications that will likely still cost less in Canada are menopause treatment drugs with Estradiol, which are also prescribed by the thousands each due to the fact that all women are going to go through menopause at some point.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The above information is intended to increase awareness of health information and does not suggest treatment or diagnosis. This information is not a substitute for individual medical attention and should not be construed to indicate that use of the drug is safe, appropriate, or effective for you. See your health care professional for medical advice and treatment.
