US insurer sends public employees to Mexico for cheaper drugs
Source: Guardian
The state of Utah is offering a $500 incentive for each trip as one congressman says, ‘Everybody loves a good deal’
Jennifer Dobner in Salt Lake City, Utah
Tue 30 Oct 2018 21.37 EDT
Owing to the soaring cost of medicine in the US, the state of Utah is offering its public employees a new incentive: $500 and a trip to Mexico to buy prescription drugs at a cheaper price.
“We can fly a health plan member to San Diego, have them picked up by private transport, receive the same drug as they would in the US from a hospital in Tijuana that meets US standards, give them a cash back incentive of $500, and still save between 40% to 60% for the employer,” said Chet Loftis, director of PEHP Health & Benefits, which insures some 170,000 public employees and their dependents.
The plan was first reported by the Salt Lake Tribune. It emerged this fall in the wake of a new law that requires the state’s insurer to offer cash or other savings rewards when patients choose lower-cost health care options.
Currently the plan applies to a specific set of expensive drugs used in the treatment of arthritis, autoimmune disorders, psoriasis, Crohn’s disease and prostate cancer.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/30/us-health-insurer-mexico-cheap-drugs
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Didn't they go after seniors and others who would go on trips to Canada to do the same thing? 
This has been going on for a long time... one article from 15 years ago - https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2003-09-21-0309210489-story.html
They apparently allow a "discretionary" 3-month supply coming back from either border country. But online orders from overseas usually get intercepted.
What a mess. 
