Posts Tagged ‘health insurance’

The Absurdly Profitable Business of Prior Authorizations

March 15, 2024 — Prior authorizations are a driving force in the burnout of physicians, denial of medical care, and the profitability of health insurance and pharmacy benefit plans. By one estimate, healthcare providers spend $35 billion every year on chasing down prior authorizations so that their patients can receive the care they need – whether that is a […]

Health Systems Hindering Health for People with Obesity

March 1, 2024 — In a new cohort study, it is plain to see that, even before the advent of new GLP-1 medicines for obesity, primary care patients could get better health from obesity care. But health systems hindering delivery of obesity care make this exceedingly unlikely for most people living this disease. A Large Cohort Study from an […]

The Rise of Forced Choices Between Money and Health

February 18, 2024 — Who knew that financial toxicity was a thing? Perhaps like us, you have merely thought of it as the financial burden of healthcare – without assigning it the status of a medical complication that dysfunctional healthcare causes. But recent publications are making it ever more clear that people living with chronic diseases are having to […]

Who Gets and Fills Prescriptions for Obesity Medicines?

January 31, 2024 — Obesity is the most prevalent chronic disease in America, so you might think that prescriptions for obesity medicines are relatively common – but only if you are unfamiliar with prevailing attitudes about these medicines. Because in fact, even in a large health system known for excellent care in cardiometabolic health, these prescriptions are rather rare. […]

Incentives for Metabolic Surgery in Response to GLP-1 Medicines

January 17, 2024 — Over the past year, as the world has embraced GLP-1 medicines like semaglutide for obesity, we have heard much speculation about dire prospects for the future of metabolic surgery. Stock prices dropped earlier this year for medical device companies with big investments in bariatric surgery when Intuitive Surgical announced they were seeing a slowdown in […]

Obesity Care: A Roadmap for Employers

January 3, 2024 — One of the big trends for this year will be increasing access to obesity care. That means more and more employers will be adding obesity care to the their health benefit plans. Yes, there will be much squawking about the list price for advanced obesity medicines. That’s perfectly normal and good. But the fact is […]

The Best and Worst of 2023 in Obesity and Health

December 28, 2023 — This was a year of great progress in obesity, and with that progress came frustrations and angst. So finding the best and worst of 2023 in obesity and health is actually quite an easy and interesting task. Let’s dig right in. #1 Best: Cardiovascular Outcomes Benefit Data for Semaglutide Above all else the landmark findings […]

Public Pressure Building for Access to Obesity Medicines

December 14, 2023 — New research from the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation offers a pretty clear picture. The research team sums it up succinctly. “Medicare doesn’t cover obesity drugs, but 76% of older adults think it should.” Yes, public pressure is building for access to obesity medicines. Survey Research of Adults 50 to 80 […]

Surprise! People Keep Taking Obesity Meds That Work

December 7, 2023 — It is mildly entertaining to watch people squirm as new obesity medicines disrupt their presumptions about obesity and its treatment. Of course, this squirming comes in many different forms. One expression of it is dismay that many people don’t keep taking obesity meds after a year. “Until compliance for these medications increases,” we’re not going […]

As Zepbound Launches, Will Access to Obesity Meds Improve?

December 6, 2023 — The Zepbound brand of tirzepatide is now available in U.S. pharmacies. This is a big deal because this launch marks the emergence of serious competition for advanced obesity medicines. Even (or perhaps especially) in healthcare, money indeed makes the world go around and one of the best checks on greed is competition. So as Zepbound […]