Retirees will go to Canada to buy prescription medicines

SHARON, Pa. -- A busload of retirees from Mercer and other nearby counties will journey to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, to buy their prescription drugs Monday.
The group, using prescriptions secured from their doctors in the United States, will meet with a physician in Canada and be able to get their prescriptions filled at a Canadian drugstore at a price much lower than they can find in the United States.
The trip is being used to highlight the need for federal help in creating a national prescription drug program for retirees, said Edward F. Coyle, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, which is sponsoring the trip.
The bus is leaving at 9 a.m. Monday from the Sharon City Centre parking lot and will return around 8 p.m. Tuesday.
"The lengths that these senior citizens must go to get affordable prescription drugs underlies the importance of congressional action on an affordable Medicare prescription drug benefit," he said.
Unfortunately, there are tens of millions of seniors who can't easily travel to Canada to buy needed medicines at reasonable costs, Coyle said.