Sarah Tribble reports for Kaiser Health News that particularly high drug prices for rural hospitals can keep them from providing critical care. For no clear reason, the ACA prevents rural hospitals...
Diane Archer
Will more generic drugs mean lower prices?
To drive meaningful competition in the health care marketplace and bring down drug prices, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is trying to approve more generic drugs. Between October 1, 2016 and...
Which advocacy groups can you trust?
You might think you can trust advocacy groups with names like “Alliance for Patient Access” to represent your interests. But, it would be a mistake to do so. Many of them are industry...
The similarities between banking and health care
Judith Garber of the Lown Institute reports on the similarities between banking and health care. For starters, both the banking and health care industries put profits before people. And, they both...
One third of Social Security benefits spent on Medicare costs
An October 2017 Center for Retirement Research paper looks at the amount retirees spend on health care out of pocket as compared with income. It finds that Medicare out-of-pocket costs are so high...
New California law forces Pharma to justify price hikes
Kaiser Health News reports that last week, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a major drug transparency law for the state. The goal is to help the public get a handle on why it is necessary for...
Gene therapy can offer a cure, but at what price?
Pharmaceutical companies are coming up with cures for a range of diseases and disabilities, including blindness and hemophilia, but at what price? Stat News reports that Sparks Therapeutics has a...
President Trump blows up ACA adding $200 billion to deficit
President Trump has been saying for a long time that the ACA was going to implode. He was counting on Republicans in Congress to make sure that happened. Without their assistance, he just issued an...
What can the US learn from Singapore’s health system?
Vox’s Ezra Klein explains how Singapore’s universal health care system works. Conservatives, including the American Enterprise Institute, suggest that it is a model for the US because it relies...
Drug coupons drive up overall health costs
Pharma has many tools for generating big profits. Drug coupons, which cover the copay of a high-cost drug, are one such tool. For patients, drug coupons can make extremely high-cost drugs free. But...