Posted by:
Dave the Atheist
(
)
Date: November 04, 2018 08:42AM
"PEHP, which covers 160,000 public employees and family members, is offering plane tickets to San Diego, transportation to Tijuana, and a $500 cash payout to patients who need certain expensive drugs for multiple sclerosis, cancer and autoimmune disorders.
PEHP has been offering free airfare for any members willing to fly out of the country to get medical operations and prescriptions for some time now. This is just the first time that they’ve actually offered to pay them to do it.
“It’s cheaper for us to pay for the drug down there, send them down there and then give them $500 than it is for us to do it here,” Loftis said.
Any PEHP member in need of one of the 13 high-cost drugs approved on the plan will be flown out to San Diego, driven through the border into Mexico, and brought right to a high-end pharmacy in Tijuana to pick up their medication.
The Health Insurance Right To Shop bill, sponsored by Rep. Norm Thurston and Sen. Todd Weiler, explicitly requires Utah’s Public Employee’s benefit and Insurance Program to offer a “savings reward” program to customers who take their business to cheaper providers.
Rep. Thurston has told the Deseret News that he plans on pushing another bill in January that will encourage providers to import certain prescription medicines in from Canada."