Medications from USA

Hi.   I am going on an international assignment for two years in London. I will remain a US employee for salary and benefits purposes. So I will keep my US healthcare coverage but paid the NHS surcharge when applying for the visa. My question is, how will I get my medications from the US to the UK? My doctors say that they can only give me three months at a time.  Can I have someone mail them to me every three months? What do I do if I can’t get them through the NHS?

Best thing to do is:
- get a 3-month supply before you leave the US
- request your US medical records to take to the U.K. with you
- when you arrive in the U.K., register with an NHS GP, make an appointment, take your medical records with you and speak to the GP about what you are prescribed in the US and what you can be prescribed in the UK.

Chances are you will be able to get the same/similar medication in the U.K... and it will only cost you £9 per prescription item.

Prescriptions for birth control are free to all, and if you have certain medical conditions, you may be eligible for a medical exemption certificate which will give you all your prescriptions for free.

Alternatively, if you get a lot of regular prescriptions, you can get a Prescription Prepayment Certificate (PPC) so instead of £9 per item you only pay £29.10 for 3 months or £104 for 12 months and all your prescriptions will be included in that.

See here for more info:
https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/help-with-health-costs/get-help-with-prescription-costs/




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Hi.   I am going on an international assignment for two years in London. I will remain a US employee for salary and benefits purposes. So I will keep my US healthcare coverage but paid the NHS surcharge when applying for the visa. My question is, how will I get my medications from the US to the UK? My doctors say that they can only give me three months at a time.  Can I have someone mail them to me every three months? What do I do if I can’t get them through the NHS?

As you have paid the IHS, you are entitled to receive medication from the NHS. I would start by checking if your meds are available here. https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/

Hi.   I am going on an international assignment for two years in London. I will remain a US employee for salary and benefits purposes. So I will keep my US healthcare coverage but paid the NHS surcharge when applying for the visa. My question is, how will I get my medications from the US to the UK? My doctors say that they can only give me three months at a time.  Can I have someone mail them to me every three months? What do I do if I can’t get them through the NHS?

A few years ago I was exploring how to get medications to my Daughter in the UK from the USA. It turned out that it was not legal to put them in the mail, and no pharmacy would send them direct. I believe that, at the time, I also checked the usual carriers - FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc. - and the result was the same.

We were able to, as cash paying customers, go to Walmart prior to leaving to move over here and pick her up a full year's worth of one of her medications. It wasn't the doctors who were stopping her from getting a full year when she went through insurance, it was the insurance company. So perhaps if you pay cash? (You might check with the doc again - unless you're having to be monitored for a condition I am not sure why they would want to restrict you to three months at a time.)

Also, note that while you can get a lot on the NHS, or even by paying cash here, you may not be able to get the precise forumulation of a drug that you have been taking in the USA.  Again, the Daughter had a medication she was on in the USA, came over, and although the pharmacist was great and looked through their "big book o drugs" for one with exactly the same ingredients in precisely the same amounts, there was not one available here. They did order her the closest thing possible, and after an adjustment time it worked out. But if there is something you absolutely have to have precisely as available in the USA, you may need to visit home every year to pick it up.

Best of luck!

When I was on a work assignment (and still a US employee but on a Tier 2 visa in the UK), I was able to have a full year of medication through mail order.

But as long as the medication is available in the UK (not all are), you'll be fine to just get them here.