Medical tourism from the US increases; Medicines are cheaper in Mexico

Americans “pass the border every day to acquire medicines in Mexico,” says a study by the University of San Antonio.

The increase in the cost of medicines and health treatments in the United States has caused medical tourism to Mexico to grow in recent years, with savings of up to two thousand dollars a year for Americans, according to a study carried out by the University of San Antonio, Texas.

“Over a 15-year period, Internet drug prices in Mexico have been, on average, 40 percent lower than online prices in the United States,” the report says.

It explains that there are three main reasons why medicine is more expensive in the United States than it is in Mexico. The first is because US pharmaceutical companies invest in the development of new medicines and sell these products to developing countries at more affordable costs, something that Mexico does not do.

Second, many drugs developed around the world and approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are manufactured in countries like Mexico, which means that the United States absorbs the costs of the supply chain to place them in the pharmacy; and third, drug manufacturing in other countries does not have the same liability concerns as in the United States, which means that a consumer is less likely to sue a Mexican pharmaceutical manufacturer than a company in the United States, which Add those costs of possible liability to your prices.

American customers can order drugs online to Mexico and receive them in the United States, if they are for personal use and do not exceed a 90-day supply, so, according to the document, of a total of one million 223 thousand requests purchase of drugs registered from the US in 2020, last year they increased to two million 22.

Source: El Sol de Mexico.