Why are Canadian Pharmacies Cheaper?
There’s being confused, and then there’s being perplexed. One is a higher state than the other, and while many of us may be confused from time to time we’re not often perplexed. Many Americans have health conditions that require an ongoing course of treatment with Rx medication. Lots of them have been entirely perplexed over recent years trying to understand how it is that their medication is so absurdly expensive. It’s true for many different medications, and the median prices for drugs in the US continue to go up and up. This then leads to the question why are Canadian pharmacies cheaper?
Both countries are modern first-world countries with advanced healthcare systems and renowned for the way they provide their citizenry with the care they need right across the board. The healthcare model in the USA is more of a mix of public and private healthcare, and whether or not that’s a good thing is another discussion for another time. But both countries do well in ensuring that people have safe and reliable access to the medications they need, while only one works to make it so that the medications remain affordable.
Looking at why are Canadian pharmacies cheaper, the first thing to understand is that the pharmaceutical industry in the USA is much more geared for profit, and that may in large part be because a good number of the world’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturers are located in the US. No one is going to take exception with a company looking to maximize profits, and that’s what these companies are aiming to do. But remember that there are enormous R&D costs that go into developing Rx drugs, and the companies need to be able to recoup those costs.
Price Ceilings
The major fundamental difference between Health Canada and the FDA in this regard is that Health Canada puts caps on drug prices, meaning they’re only able to be so high when the drug is sold to consumers in Canada. In the USA it’s entirely free market, and manufacturers are free to set the prices for the drugs at whatever level they see fit. That isn’t likely to change, but there have been efforts to promote Americans having access to more affordable prescription drugs. The most notable of them was a summer 2020 White House Executive Order that laid out steps that might help with the problem.
2 years on that hasn’t made much of a difference at all, and people are still left looking at why are Canadian pharmacies cheaper. There are other reasons for that, and the next one we’ll evaluate is how there’s many more stops on the chain between the drug being manufactured and it being behind the counter at a pharmacy. In the USA there are middlemen in the pharmacy industry that play a role in pushing prices up, but in Canada there are far fewer of them and a cheap Canadian pharmacy online will work with pharma wholesalers as the only go-between with them and the pharma manufacturer.
The next factor in why are Canadian pharmacies cheaper is the role of price discrimination, something that is possible with the governing leniency in American in a way that it’s not in Canada. What this means is that pharma manufacturers are charging different prices to different buyers of the same product, and if your pharmacy is working with a certain buyer that is being given a higher price then that elevated price is passed down to you.
Find Alternatives
Is that greasy? Well, you could certainly make the case for that but the only reason that price discrimination in the pharma industry doesn’t happen as often in Canada is simply because there are fewer buyers and fewer pharma wholesalers serving them. In that sense Canada’s smaller population plays a role in why are Canadian pharmacies are cheaper too. What all of this does is add to the many reasons why ordering medication online from Canada is often the smarter choice.
Americans are fortunate to have this alternative when finding better prices on Rx drugs, and the fact that Canada is so close by makes it possible to order the medications and have them shipped to US residences without too much logistics fuss or added expense. You do need to submit a digital copy of your prescription to any Canadian online pharmacy, and that shouldn’t come as a surprise as safety and adhering to law is always a priority at any of them.
We’ve said all there is to say about why are Canadian pharmacies cheaper, and the biggest reason is price controls on drugs in Canada. We encourage any American who is struggling to afford their medication to see if it’s available for less in Canada. If so, why not take advantage of that?
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.
