Health Care Innovation
Commentary
Uncle Sam Can’t haggle better than private insurers
The White House is declaring war on prescription drug prices. “The administration is deeply concerned with the rapidly growing prices of specialty and brand name drugs,” notes President Obama’s 2016 budget proposal. To keep prices down, the president wants the government to negotiate prices for drugs dispensed through Medicare. But ...
Commentary
Don’t let artificial caps stifle drug production
This is shaping up to be another banner year for medical progress. Regulators have already approved 28 new medicines, roughly on last year’s pace of 41 new drug approvals – the most since the Clinton administration. But in future years, the list of medical breakthroughs could prove much shorter. In ...
Commentary
Bernie Sanders’ ‘Medicare For All’ Would Be A Disaster For All
This month, Bernie Sanders took his vision for the future of American health care to a national television audience in the first Democratic presidential debate. “We should look to countries like Denmark, like Sweden and Norway and learn from what they have accomplished,” Sanders said. He wants the United States ...
Commentary
Mega-Merger Madness
The health insurance industry is undergoing breathtaking consolidation. Industry giant Anthem recently struck a $54 billion deal to buy rival Cigna. If approved, the merger would create the largest insurance company in the United States, serving more than 53 million Americans. The deal comes after Aetna announced it would buy ...
Commentary
Bungled bundling of hospital payments for joint replacements
Federal officials are about to make orthopedic surgery a lot more painful. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services soon may order hospitals in 75 metropolitan regions to change the way they pay health care providers for knee and hip replacements for seniors on Medicare. Instead of paying for each ...
Commentary
Obamacare’s latest trend: sticker shock
Americans rank health costs as their top financial concern, according to Gallup. That’s not likely to change anytime soon. Health insurers are requesting massive premium hikes for next year — some in excess of 50 percent. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Affordable Care Act has been driving up ...
Commentary
Two More Pieces Of Obamacare May Be On Their Way Out
House Republicans have launched another assault on Obamacare. This time, they have some support from their foes on the other side of the aisle. Two bipartisan bills that would repeal parts of Obamacare are scheduled to reach the House floor this week. One would get rid of a job-killing tax ...
Commentary
Drug importation is a dangerous idea that won’t die
A federal judge just struck down a program in Maine allowing state residents to import prescription drugs from foreign countries. The reason: it’s against federal law — and justifiably so. The importation of price-controlled foreign drugs severely undermines research into future cures, hurting patients in the long run. And more ...
Commentary
Letting patients buy Canadian drugs will only import trouble
Good news for American patients — prescription drugs are effectively on sale. Drug spending climbed just 2.5 percent in 2013. Drug cost growth has now lagged overall health inflation for four straight years. Naturally, Washington lawmakers are ignoring the cost problems plaguing the rest of the healthcare marketplace and focusing ...
Commentary
Healthcare’s Problem Is Not High Drug Prices
Is $84,000 too much to pay to save a life? That’s a question worth asking now that the insurance industry has declared war on what it has deemed outrageous prices for new specialty drugs. In this case, the complaints focus on Sovaldi, a breakthrough treatment that gives three million people ...
Uncle Sam Can’t haggle better than private insurers
The White House is declaring war on prescription drug prices. “The administration is deeply concerned with the rapidly growing prices of specialty and brand name drugs,” notes President Obama’s 2016 budget proposal. To keep prices down, the president wants the government to negotiate prices for drugs dispensed through Medicare. But ...
Don’t let artificial caps stifle drug production
This is shaping up to be another banner year for medical progress. Regulators have already approved 28 new medicines, roughly on last year’s pace of 41 new drug approvals – the most since the Clinton administration. But in future years, the list of medical breakthroughs could prove much shorter. In ...
Bernie Sanders’ ‘Medicare For All’ Would Be A Disaster For All
This month, Bernie Sanders took his vision for the future of American health care to a national television audience in the first Democratic presidential debate. “We should look to countries like Denmark, like Sweden and Norway and learn from what they have accomplished,” Sanders said. He wants the United States ...
Mega-Merger Madness
The health insurance industry is undergoing breathtaking consolidation. Industry giant Anthem recently struck a $54 billion deal to buy rival Cigna. If approved, the merger would create the largest insurance company in the United States, serving more than 53 million Americans. The deal comes after Aetna announced it would buy ...
Bungled bundling of hospital payments for joint replacements
Federal officials are about to make orthopedic surgery a lot more painful. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services soon may order hospitals in 75 metropolitan regions to change the way they pay health care providers for knee and hip replacements for seniors on Medicare. Instead of paying for each ...
Obamacare’s latest trend: sticker shock
Americans rank health costs as their top financial concern, according to Gallup. That’s not likely to change anytime soon. Health insurers are requesting massive premium hikes for next year — some in excess of 50 percent. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Affordable Care Act has been driving up ...
Two More Pieces Of Obamacare May Be On Their Way Out
House Republicans have launched another assault on Obamacare. This time, they have some support from their foes on the other side of the aisle. Two bipartisan bills that would repeal parts of Obamacare are scheduled to reach the House floor this week. One would get rid of a job-killing tax ...
Drug importation is a dangerous idea that won’t die
A federal judge just struck down a program in Maine allowing state residents to import prescription drugs from foreign countries. The reason: it’s against federal law — and justifiably so. The importation of price-controlled foreign drugs severely undermines research into future cures, hurting patients in the long run. And more ...
Letting patients buy Canadian drugs will only import trouble
Good news for American patients — prescription drugs are effectively on sale. Drug spending climbed just 2.5 percent in 2013. Drug cost growth has now lagged overall health inflation for four straight years. Naturally, Washington lawmakers are ignoring the cost problems plaguing the rest of the healthcare marketplace and focusing ...
Healthcare’s Problem Is Not High Drug Prices
Is $84,000 too much to pay to save a life? That’s a question worth asking now that the insurance industry has declared war on what it has deemed outrageous prices for new specialty drugs. In this case, the complaints focus on Sovaldi, a breakthrough treatment that gives three million people ...
