Drug Pricing
Commentary
Read Sally Pipes' latest at Forbes
Florida’s Drug Importation Plan Is A Bipartisan Blunder
It’s not every day that President Joe Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis agree. But that’s exactly what happened this month, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration green-lit Florida’s request to import certain prescription drugs from Canada, where they’re cheaper. “Canada has the same drugs. They’re like 25 cents on the ...
Blog
Read how Biden plan would hurt medical innovation
The Biden Administration Abuses Inflation to Attack Medical Innovation
It is theoretically bankrupt because price changes for individual goods and services reflect unique market factors in addition to broad-based inflation trends. There is no reason to expect any good’s price changes to always equal the average of all price changes (e.g., measured inflation). For instance, a deep frost that ...
Commentary
Reining in the true culprit behind critical medicine shortages
Drug shortages in the United States have reached crisis levels. The Food and Drug Administration reports that nearly 140 medicines are currently in short supply. That figure includes more than a dozen cancer drugs, which has forced doctors and patients to confront the dangerous possibility of rationing. These shortages threaten ...
Commentary
Giving The Gov’t Drug Patent March-In Authority Is Bad Policy
In early December, the Biden administration announced a proposal on exercising march-in rights on taxpayer-funded drugs and other inventions that allows prices to “be a factor in considering whether a drug is accessible to the public.” This is a terrible idea. As the Congressional Research Service summarized, it is an ...
Commentary
Reforming PBM Practices Would Improve The Pharmacy Market
Patients, the ultimate healthcare arbiter, continue to bear the costs from the perverse incentives driving the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) market. Because of these disincentives patients pay excessive out-of-pocket costs. Just as troubling, the misaligned incentives create impediments that dictate where patients can fill their prescriptions and which prescriptions they can ...
Commentary
Read latest about push for drug price controls
U.S. consumers shouldn’t be seduced by drug importation dreams and promises
Republicans, meanwhile, are embracing the price controls that foreign countries impose on prescription drugs. Texas recently enacted a law seeking approval from the Biden administration to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada, my native land. Texas now joins Republican-led Florida and New Hampshire in pressing for a way to import ...
Commentary
Seniors are disappointed with efforts to lower Medicare costs — and rightly so
But wait, the law’s proponents may say: The federal government hasn’t yet exercised its power to “negotiate” — or more accurately, cap — the prices of drugs in Medicare. Those price controls may save the federal government money. But patients won’t see much of the savings. The federal government has ...
Commentary
Read about problems with 340B program
Incompetence, Abuse Comprise 340B Health Program
There’s a paradox at the center of American healthcare policy. The government will spend just shy of $2 trillion subsidizing healthcare this year — including over $500 billion on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. But low-income Americans still struggle to afford care. According to one recent poll by the ...
Commentary
Read latest about problems with PBMs
Decoupling PBM Fees Enhances Patient Outcomes
The three largest PBMs—Caremark (CVS Health/Aetna AET 0.0%), Express Scripts ESRX 0.0% (Cigna CI +0.7%), and OptumRx (UnitedHealth Group UNH +0.2%)—control 80% of the market and are integrated into large health insurance conglomerates. PBMs negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies on behalf of insurers and manage their drug formularies. Read ...
Read Sally Pipes' latest at Forbes
Florida’s Drug Importation Plan Is A Bipartisan Blunder
It’s not every day that President Joe Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis agree. But that’s exactly what happened this month, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration green-lit Florida’s request to import certain prescription drugs from Canada, where they’re cheaper. “Canada has the same drugs. They’re like 25 cents on the ...
Read how Biden plan would hurt medical innovation
The Biden Administration Abuses Inflation to Attack Medical Innovation
It is theoretically bankrupt because price changes for individual goods and services reflect unique market factors in addition to broad-based inflation trends. There is no reason to expect any good’s price changes to always equal the average of all price changes (e.g., measured inflation). For instance, a deep frost that ...
Reining in the true culprit behind critical medicine shortages
Drug shortages in the United States have reached crisis levels. The Food and Drug Administration reports that nearly 140 medicines are currently in short supply. That figure includes more than a dozen cancer drugs, which has forced doctors and patients to confront the dangerous possibility of rationing. These shortages threaten ...
Giving The Gov’t Drug Patent March-In Authority Is Bad Policy
In early December, the Biden administration announced a proposal on exercising march-in rights on taxpayer-funded drugs and other inventions that allows prices to “be a factor in considering whether a drug is accessible to the public.” This is a terrible idea. As the Congressional Research Service summarized, it is an ...
Reforming PBM Practices Would Improve The Pharmacy Market
Patients, the ultimate healthcare arbiter, continue to bear the costs from the perverse incentives driving the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) market. Because of these disincentives patients pay excessive out-of-pocket costs. Just as troubling, the misaligned incentives create impediments that dictate where patients can fill their prescriptions and which prescriptions they can ...
Read latest about push for drug price controls
U.S. consumers shouldn’t be seduced by drug importation dreams and promises
Republicans, meanwhile, are embracing the price controls that foreign countries impose on prescription drugs. Texas recently enacted a law seeking approval from the Biden administration to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada, my native land. Texas now joins Republican-led Florida and New Hampshire in pressing for a way to import ...
Seniors are disappointed with efforts to lower Medicare costs — and rightly so
But wait, the law’s proponents may say: The federal government hasn’t yet exercised its power to “negotiate” — or more accurately, cap — the prices of drugs in Medicare. Those price controls may save the federal government money. But patients won’t see much of the savings. The federal government has ...
Read about problems with 340B program
Incompetence, Abuse Comprise 340B Health Program
There’s a paradox at the center of American healthcare policy. The government will spend just shy of $2 trillion subsidizing healthcare this year — including over $500 billion on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. But low-income Americans still struggle to afford care. According to one recent poll by the ...
Read latest about problems with PBMs
Decoupling PBM Fees Enhances Patient Outcomes
The three largest PBMs—Caremark (CVS Health/Aetna AET 0.0%), Express Scripts ESRX 0.0% (Cigna CI +0.7%), and OptumRx (UnitedHealth Group UNH +0.2%)—control 80% of the market and are integrated into large health insurance conglomerates. PBMs negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies on behalf of insurers and manage their drug formularies. Read ...
