A friend long ago told me about all these friends of his mother’s who lived in Texas but went regularly to dentists in Mexico, a short way across the border from them. Their dentists were Americans who’d moved their practices there for fewer regulations and whatever. The patients saved a bunch of money this way.

I can’t blame them; I’m looking into other sources of prescriptions I just can’t afford here now that I have no insurance. The brand name item I’m looking for is actually manufactured in Canada, not here. The price I found at one place (out of town, shall we say) was a savings of at least $50 for several months’ supply. Here, my pharmacy was reluctant to quote me a cash price. (I plan to ask again.) When I bought it on my insurance in the past, the price changed depending upon how much I was prescribed. It’s kind of unbelievable.

A couple of years back, when a friend left all his old pills here with me, I began using them up — so I have no problems with recognizable medications. I can translate Spanish and find out exactly what they are. They were NSAIDS, allergy stuff and a couple of others. All fine.