Pandemic travel restrictions have made Americans prisoners of their country. Even within North America, Mexico and Canada have closed thousands of kilometres of border to all but essential travel, roiling plans for vacation, work, and school. For cash-strapped Americans, it has also cut off access to medicines and health-care services that they can't afford at home -- at a time when money is tighter than ever.
A surprising number of Americans had been purchasing their medications in Canada and Mexico because prices for the meds are far less expensive there than they are in the USA. The border closures have really cramped their style. Insulin is a prime example:
Stephanie Boland's nine-year-old son was diagnosed with diabetes in December. Travelling to Canada to fill his insulin prescription took a half-day's drive from where they live in Brainerd, Minnesota, but it was worth it -- the purchase was a simple, over-the-counter affair. One pack of injection pens, which would last several months, cost less than a hundred dollars, she says, compared to a list price of $530 at home.
It's the same for many other medications; we pay four or five times as much as people in Canada and Mexico pay for the same stuff, and health-care reforms in the USA haven't done anything to alleviate the disparities. Health insurance here only goes so far.
