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 […]
November 22, 2023 — The economics of healthcare bedevil us. Spending on it, with occasional interruptions, goes up year after year. Some countries spend less to get more, but the story is universal. The better we get at healing our health problems, the more we seem to spend on healthcare. In the case of obesity care, medical research has […]
July 26, 2023 — An intense battle is rumbling along in the courts and in the United States Congress and it’s all about drug pricing. The pharmaceutical industry enjoys considerable flexibility in drug prices for the U.S. Because of this, branded, patent-protected drugs are five times more expensive in the U.S. than in other nations with advanced economies. Change […]
June 10, 2023 — Will new obesity medicines bankrupt health systems? This question, recently posed by Arya Sharma, is on the minds of many health economists and policy makers. Sharma predicts that costs will fall, systems of care will evolve, and eventually, the current “hand-wringing” will give way to scenarios that are not so bleak. But what about the […]
May 12, 2023 — Don’t look at me! That’s basically how it went at a U.S. Senate hearing Wednesday. Top executives from PBMs (pharmacy benefit managers) and the three pharma companies selling insulin testified to suggest they’re doing everything they possibly can to keep drug prices low. PBMs point the finger at pharma. Pharma executives return the favor. Lilly […]
December 5, 2022 — Move over, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. Amgen wants a piece of the action in obesity treatment. With some obvious pride of accomplishment, Amgen unveiled results from a phase 1 study of its dual action conjugate on Saturday. This new experimental drug, AMG 133, is a molecule that combines peptides to activate GLP-1 receptors (as […]
August 23, 2019 — The total cost of cancer care is daunting. It will add up to $157 billion in 2020, says the NCI. But big numbers can leave us numb. So if you look at what a cancer diagnosis costs a person, it’s devastating. Cancer more than doubles the odds of bankruptcy. Against that dismal backdrop, we have […]
May 25, 2013 — As we prepare to plunge into a new world with most of Obamacare taking hold in 2014, lots of hand-wringing about Obamacare costs is coming from all quarters. For months now, headlines have been filled with dire predictions like this one from Forbes: “A Temporary Insurance Program Foretells Exploding Obamacare Costs.” But this week, we got […]
May 18, 2013 — Consumer-driven healthcare plans combine high-deductible health insurance with a health savings account for routine care. The goal is to give patients a direct stake in the cost of medical care. Fans of this strategy hold a firm conviction that it can harness market forces to control healthcare costs. A recent report highlights a significant gap […]
