Health Care Innovation

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 ...
Health Care

Why Pharmaceutical Prices Drop Once Drugs Are Off-Patent

Today PRI released the new report “The Economics of Pharmaceutical Pricing” by PRI senior fellow Wayne Winegarden, Ph.D. The study examines the market forces influencing the often dramatic price differences in pharmaceutical drugs before and after their patents expire. “Some critics erroneously see the sharp declines in the prices of ...
Commentary

Industry Succeeds Where Obamacare Fails

Walmart is about to get into the health insurance business. The retail giant’s Sam’s Club division just announced that it would launch a private health insurance exchange for its small-business customers. Business owners shopping at the wholesaler will effectively be able to pick up health insurance for their employees along ...
Commentary

The News Is The Declining Incentives For Medical Innovation

The federal health exchange Healthcare.gov, one of the centerpieces of the Affordable Care Act (ACA or “ObamaCare”), is gasping for life.  This is not the important story, however. The U.S. health care system has flaws.  And, these flaws should have been the focus of the health care reforms back in ...
Commentary

India’s War On Intellectual Property Rights May Bring With It A Body Count

Last month, drug maker Roche withdrew its patents for the breast-cancer drug Herceptin in India — and thus gave tacit approval to other companies to make low-cost generic versions of the drug. But the withdrawal of those patents was not completely voluntary. If the Swiss pharmaceutical firm had not relinquished ...
Commentary

Government Mandates Don’t Lower Health Care Costs

Free lunches are often the most expensive meals. And yet, when it comes to the nation’s health care system, the federal government blindly offers free lunch buffets in lieu of policies that would actually address the core problems of the nation’s health care system. An example of this free lunch ...
Commentary

Bend The Healthcare Cost Curve Downward By Letting Healthcare Costs Rise

Earlier this year, a team of researchers in Europe decided to examine the relationship between cutting-edge technology and healthcare costs. Some wonks complain that expensive new medical technologies and therapies — some of which deliver only marginal improvements to patient health — are key drivers of health spending. But when ...
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 ...
Health Care

Why Pharmaceutical Prices Drop Once Drugs Are Off-Patent

Today PRI released the new report “The Economics of Pharmaceutical Pricing” by PRI senior fellow Wayne Winegarden, Ph.D. The study examines the market forces influencing the often dramatic price differences in pharmaceutical drugs before and after their patents expire. “Some critics erroneously see the sharp declines in the prices of ...
Commentary

Industry Succeeds Where Obamacare Fails

Walmart is about to get into the health insurance business. The retail giant’s Sam’s Club division just announced that it would launch a private health insurance exchange for its small-business customers. Business owners shopping at the wholesaler will effectively be able to pick up health insurance for their employees along ...
Commentary

The News Is The Declining Incentives For Medical Innovation

The federal health exchange Healthcare.gov, one of the centerpieces of the Affordable Care Act (ACA or “ObamaCare”), is gasping for life.  This is not the important story, however. The U.S. health care system has flaws.  And, these flaws should have been the focus of the health care reforms back in ...
Commentary

India’s War On Intellectual Property Rights May Bring With It A Body Count

Last month, drug maker Roche withdrew its patents for the breast-cancer drug Herceptin in India — and thus gave tacit approval to other companies to make low-cost generic versions of the drug. But the withdrawal of those patents was not completely voluntary. If the Swiss pharmaceutical firm had not relinquished ...
Commentary

Government Mandates Don’t Lower Health Care Costs

Free lunches are often the most expensive meals. And yet, when it comes to the nation’s health care system, the federal government blindly offers free lunch buffets in lieu of policies that would actually address the core problems of the nation’s health care system. An example of this free lunch ...
Commentary

Bend The Healthcare Cost Curve Downward By Letting Healthcare Costs Rise

Earlier this year, a team of researchers in Europe decided to examine the relationship between cutting-edge technology and healthcare costs. Some wonks complain that expensive new medical technologies and therapies — some of which deliver only marginal improvements to patient health — are key drivers of health spending. But when ...
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