I've been buying albuterol inhalers from Mexico for a several years now. Most of my life these inhalers cost a few bucks, but a few years back (2010?) they star

I've been buying albuterol inhalers from Mexico for a several years now. Most of my life these inhalers cost a few bucks, but a few years back (2010?) they started costing me $50 for just the copay. It turns out the pharma lobby was able to get congress to ban CFCs from inhalers (even though the amount of CFCs in these is trivial). Because of that they were able to re-patent them and start charging more. Now I go to Mexico every couple years and buy a bunch of them for less than $1 each. It's the same medication I've always used, now with spanish on the package. EDIT Here's a link that talks about the pharma lobby shenanigans for albuterol inhalers: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/10/heres-why-your-asthma-inhaler-costs-so-damn-much http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/10/heres-why-your... And here's another that talks more about medical patent evergreening: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/us/the-soaring-cost-of-a-simple-breath.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/us/the-soaring-cost-of-a-s...