Locals shop Mexico for medicines as new executive order targets prices

MCALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral)—President Donald Trump’s new executive order requiring drugmakers to lower the cost of prescription drugs in the U.S. or face new limits has garnered local speculation.

Many locals said they know at least someone who has gone without their medication because they are too expensive.

Steve Lopez said he goes to Nuevo Progreso for his medicine because they are cheaper, and sometimes his insurance does not cover all the costs.

“It's ridiculous," Lopez said. "It's almost five to ten times cheaper for anything. It is pretty amazing how much cheaper it is, and it is the same companies that make them.”

Like many others, Ashley Cabral’s late father went to Mexico for his medications.

“My dad, we just lost him at the end of August, and he would go across sometimes," Cabral said. "He had insurance here, but even then, sometimes it was too much sometimes, so he would either go or have someone go for him."

Others like Armilia Torres said her sister sometimes has to wait to save money to buy her diabetes medication because they are costly, and she is scared to go to Mexico.

"The medicine over there is cheaper, but with how things are right now, it’s very risky," Torres said. "Sometimes you go and don’t come back, so it’s better to take care of it here.”

Lopez said the amount of gas it takes to go and come back from Nuevo Progreso is also another heavy price to pay for cheaper medicine.

Dr. Luis Reyes, who works with diabetic patients in McAllen, said he does not mind patients getting their prescriptions filled in Mexico as long as they get the right ones.

“This is a major concern we have as doctors," Dr. Reyes said. "I even have to teach our students who are residents that they need to learn the prices of the medication to be able to give it to the patient, because sometimes they don’t have money.”

He said he has seen many insurance companies deny his patients the medications they need, and said the medicines are 90% higher in the United States than they are in Mexico and Canada.

Reyes said that when his patients cannot afford to buy medicine, the complications get even worse.

“They have an infection, and we need to give them a less expensive medication because if we give them something expensive, they will not go and buy it, and they will come back with an infection," he added.

Reyes said this is causing many doctors to not just worry about their patients' needs but also about the prices of what they offer in what he calls half-treatment.

“It can become very frustrating," he said. "Sometimes when we treat cancer patients. We go, we treat the patient, we do the surgery, but then they cannot afford the chemotherapy because it is so expensive, so it's just like giving half-treatment. There’s nothing that we can do.”

Cabral hopes medication costs will go down with the new executive order. However, she has reservations as a similar proposal failed during the Biden Administration.

“Act like a hero when they are the ones that take it away, and now they are just giving it back," Cabral said.

The doctor hopes this time change does happen and believes this is the first step of many.

“I hope they do it," Reyes said. "That would be a step. Once the drug companies decide to decrease the prices, then we have to work with the insurance.”

The government has 30 days to tell drug companies how much their medicines should cost.