NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
In a potential setback for the drug industry, AARP and UnitedHealth Group Inc. have notified 97,000 members of the organization for older Americans that the health care firm will reimburse people who buy prescription drugs from pharmacies outside the United States, according to a published report Friday.
Older Americans and those with high prescription drug costs have regularly traveled to Canada and Mexico to buy lower-cost medications, and the UnitedHealth policy now will make that easier, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Click here to check other healthcare stocks
"We have made an administrative decision to waive the requirement that a prescription drug be purchased in the United States or one of its territories," UnitedHealth executive Jim Pogue wrote in a letter to AARP members last month, the paper reported.
Congress has made several attempts at legalizing the importation of prescription drugs, but the pharmaceutical industry has strongly opposed such moves.
In a statement released Thursday, the industry's trade group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said "as a general matter the Food and Drug Administration has repeatedly stressed strong reservation about the legality and safety of bringing medicines from other nations into this country," according to the Journal.
Despite UnitedHealth's stance on the importation of prescription drugs, the company reimburses AARP member for amounts ranging from $500 to $1,500 a year, far below what many chronically ill patients require, the paper reported.
Shares of UnitedHealth (UNH: Research, Estimates) gained $1.20 Thursday to close at $92.18.
|
