Mailing Medication

[TheATeam 0]

Hi there! I'm so struggling with the health care system here. I can't get on my husband's health insurance yet so I'm without insurance. I was SO silly before I moved here and I didn't stock up on my birth control like I should have. Well, after 3 or 4 months of paying up to $100 every month just to get a prescription for them, I'm going to have my mom send me the leftover packages that I should have brought with me.

What I'm wondering is if anyone has had medication mailed to them from home. Did it work? Did you get your medication? She is just going to mail one package and then put the rest of them in her luggage when she comes next month for the wedding. I just don't want to have to pay $100 to go see a doctor for another one month prescription! ARGHHHHH!

I'm so frustrated with the health care, or lack of, here. Hubby said that he used to support the system here and now he realizes that it's pretty ridiculous. I mean, it's alright if you never get sick, but if you even need just birth control, you've got an issue if you don't have healthcare.

Anyhow, I hope someone has some experience with this! Thanks in advance.

[Dan J 277]

Hi there! I'm so struggling with the health care system here. I can't get on my husband's health insurance yet so I'm without insurance. I was SO silly before I moved here and I didn't stock up on my birth control like I should have. Well, after 3 or 4 months of paying up to $100 every month just to get a prescription for them, I'm going to have my mom send me the leftover packages that I should have brought with me.

What I'm wondering is if anyone has had medication mailed to them from home. Did it work? Did you get your medication? She is just going to mail one package and then put the rest of them in her luggage when she comes next month for the wedding. I just don't want to have to pay $100 to go see a doctor for another one month prescription! ARGHHHHH!

I'm so frustrated with the health care, or lack of, here. Hubby said that he used to support the system here and now he realizes that it's pretty ridiculous. I mean, it's alright if you never get sick, but if you even need just birth control, you've got an issue if you don't have healthcare.

Anyhow, I hope someone has some experience with this! Thanks in advance.

You should be able to get birth control pills for cheap at a local planned parenthood office.

[Emancipation 2]

Purolatorâ„¢ International

PDF to print

3.1

Prescription Drugs to the U.S.A.

For all prescription drugs mailed to a Canadian or American citizen at an address in the United States, it is mandatory that the sender provide all of the following:

* a photocopy of the doctor’s prescription

* a photocopy of a document proving the addressee’s Canadian citizenship (e.g. birth certificate with photo I.D., passport)

* a letter from the doctor if the drug is not FDA approved, or if for U.S. citizen

* in the receiver’s name and address section of the Purolator International – Bill of Lading, the telephone number where the addressee can be contacted.

Purolator International must conform with the packaging requirements of Canada Post and the destination country. Purolator International shipments must not contain dangerous or prohibited articles. See General Terms and Conditions at www.canadapost.ca/generalterms and the chapter “Non-mailable Matter†for more information.

3.2

http://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/manual/P...t-e.asp#1378515

here's a start It's courier, i'll keep looking for general mailing. Looks like this is the custom regulation...

https://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/manual/p...s-e.asp#1382810

Edited September 8, 2008 by Emancipation

[Reba 2]

It would likely be confiscated and destroyed and you'd never see your pills again.

Go to a Planned Parenthood clinic and see if they can help you.

[antda 13]

Hi TheATeam,

I can relate to your situation, as (gee, I hate to be personal here about this ), I experienced the same situation before too. I only had planned a vacation here in the USA (see my VJ timeline about this), and only had about 2 weeks worth of pills and other personal belongings when I came here. On top of that, I was "out of status/illegal" while the paperwork was processing for the AOS, so I could not go back to pick up my stuff myself even if I wanted to. Also, because of my "in limbo" immigration status, I had no health insurance nor could get any kind of health insurance here either. Luckily though, I had stocked up on pills ahead of time (intuition perhaps?), and as soon as I ran out of my pills, said to my husband: "Well, you're either going to have pick up my pills for me, or we're going to have a baby now!" And shortly afterwards, my husband drove all the way by himself to Canada to my former place and picked up most of my stuff. It was funny though, when he returned, and had the many packets of pills stuffed in his pocket, as he was afraid they would find it in the trunk of the car if they ever did search there (which thank goodness they didn't this time, like they did before when I arrived here). Even after that, it took some time for me to get healthcare after I got my green card. And so, like you, I ended up paying a lot for all of my "uninsured healthcare" here in the USA, until I finally got some sort of medical insurance coverage awhile later.

Lol...oh the stories of our newlywed married days! Thank goodness we don't have to worry about pills (we finally gave up on that idea, as we've been married for awhile and decided that we want to do the opposite and expand our family with a baby/child instead). I'm thankful too that I have healthcare now here in the USA, even though it's not the best, and it can be extremely frustrating at times trying to work through the system here.

If you still can travel back to Canada and get healthcare and pills there, then I would suggest you do that. It's better if you can bring the pills and other medications over in-person yourself. It's ok to do, as long as you have a valid prescription accompanying it. Do not send it by mail, as it will get taken away and/or lost, and you might end up in a lot of trouble because of it. If you can't get your pills from Canada, as the other posters above suggested, then try to find a free and/or low cost healthcare clinic here in the USA for your medical needs. And as soon as you can, yes, do find some sort of medical insurance here in the USA, as medical costs here in the USA can get quite costly and can be very difficult to obtain without insurance....

Hope this helps. Good luck with your medical and immigration situations.

Ant (Pill-less, feeling a bit , and about my old newlywed days...)

Hi there! I'm so struggling with the health care system here. I can't get on my husband's health insurance yet so I'm without insurance. I was SO silly before I moved here and I didn't stock up on my birth control like I should have. Well, after 3 or 4 months of paying up to $100 every month just to get a prescription for them, I'm going to have my mom send me the leftover packages that I should have brought with me.

What I'm wondering is if anyone has had medication mailed to them from home. Did it work? Did you get your medication? She is just going to mail one package and then put the rest of them in her luggage when she comes next month for the wedding. I just don't want to have to pay $100 to go see a doctor for another one month prescription! ARGHHHHH!

I'm so frustrated with the health care, or lack of, here. Hubby said that he used to support the system here and now he realizes that it's pretty ridiculous. I mean, it's alright if you never get sick, but if you even need just birth control, you've got an issue if you don't have healthcare.

Anyhow, I hope someone has some experience with this! Thanks in advance.

[Marilyn. 340]

have you tried Walmart pharmacy?? my prescription costs about 20 bucks a month there..

that is weird that your doctor gives you a month to month prescription.. mine gives me a prescription that is good for about 8 to 9 months...

Edited September 9, 2008 by *Marilyn*

[TheATeam 0]

Hi everyone! Thanks for your advice. I know that mailing them is a long shot, but I had read some of what you posted Emancipation.

It's not that the actual prescription itself is expensive, because I've been getting them at Walmart for $9 per month. The problem is that because I don't have a regular "family" doctor yet and they don't believe I've had my yearly physical this year, they won't prescribe for any longer than a month, even at Planned Parenthood. I don't have a family doctor yet cause they're like $150 just for a visit! I also tried to get my yearly physical at Planned Parenthood so that I could get a year's worth of prescriptions but that would be around $250 because, even though I don't work, my husband does, and makes too much money!

Ant- I wish I could go back and get them myself but I can't. My mom will bring some with her next month when she flies in, so I'm thankful for that. I'm worried about this month though. I don't want to have to spend another $60-$100 just to get a silly piece of paper! ~sighs~ It's all just so expensive and so frustrating.

Edited September 9, 2008 by TheATeam

[Marilyn. 340]

did you get your physical done with the doctor you are getting the prescription from?

[TheATeam 0]

Nope, I haven't had one done yet Marilyn. I had my last one done in January back home and didn't want to have to get another one. I also can't really afford $300 right now, so I'm trying to wait until I'm on hubby's insurance. ~sighs~

[Marilyn. 340]

ok I understand now... it is crazy that a little exam would cost that much..

[Thai family 0]

Did you try your local county health dept?

[TheATeam 0]

Yeah, that's what I thought too. They don't have real walk in clinics like I'm used to back home. Their "Urgent Care" is still ridiculously expensive... $150!!!! This is the first time I've ever been worried about actually being ill or needing to see a doctor for something, even just a regular checkup or my yearly physical! Man alive!

[TheATeam 0]

Thai Family- Thanks for the idea! I hadn't thought about the health department. I'll phone them tomorrow and see how much they cost!

[Flames9_RN 358]

No clue where u live, but the bigger cities have birth control clinics, planned parenthood http://www.plannedparenthood.org/. And yes the health dept should be able to help u.

[DeadPoolX 9]

I can't help you with this particular issue (some others people on here have that covered anyway), but if and when you do get coverage, do NOT mention your birth control if it's expensive. Health insurance plans won't cover preexisting conditions and the medication necessary for them. In other words, they'd pay for your birth control if you decided to get it AFTER applying and getting accepted by an HMO or PPO, but if you're on it BEFORE and they know about it, you'll still have to pay.