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 […]
July 10, 2023 — In thoughtful reporting for Fortune, Rachel Shin explores the possibility for broader access to advanced obesity meds leading to lower prices. But it’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg puzzle because it might be more likely that lower prices will lead to broader access. Novopoly Shin calls it a Novopoly. Novo Nordisk invested billions of dollars […]
October 3, 2022 — Health insurers, including Medicare, are regarding obesity meds like Botox Cosmetic, when they should be thinking of them more like a knee replacement. This observation, from a report by Jamy Lee in MarketWatch, sums up the challenge for people seeking obesity care in a health system that pays for the complications of untreated obesity, but […]
June 30, 2022 — Okay, this is hardly a final victory, but it sure does feel good. The U.S. House Appropriations Committee released its legislative report on funding for Health and Human Services. It’s a beastly 623 page document that goes over all the spending priorities for the department. However, if you dig deep into it, there’s a paragraph […]
March 4, 2022 — For OCW2022 today, the focus is equity in obesity care – specifically for people who rely upon Medicare. Right now, for these people, Medicare has a huge gap in coverage. At one end of the spectrum, it does a fair job of covering bariatric surgery. At the other end of the spectrum, it’s doing a […]
February 1, 2022 — It is a familiar pattern, but no less disappointing because of that. A government commission issues a report and cries out for action. “Another health crisis challenges the U.S.: diabetes mellitus,” says the report issued yesterday by the National Clinical Care Commission. The report correctly identifies obesity as a key driver of rising deaths from […]
January 19, 2022 — A new study in Obesity tells us that telehealth can work just fine in obesity care. But what will the future hold? Payers and patients will likely have their their say. Already, telehealth businesses have had quite a bumpy ride. A prime example would be Teledoc, which saw its stock soar from $83 per share […]
November 19, 2021 — New polling being released today by Morning Consult tells us that Medicare is lagging behind public sentiment on obesity care. Researchers found that 73 percent of the public supports Medicare covering obesity treatment and prevention. What’s more, a similar number (69 percent) says that obesity care should be a top priority for federal healthcare programs. […]
October 23, 2019 — We have an effective treatment for preventing diabetes. It cuts the risk by 60 percent in people with prediabetes. For every person on Medicare, it saves $2,650. In just 15 months. But Medicare can’t figure out how to make it available to the people who need it. This is the sad story of implementing the […]
August 20, 2019 — We have a problem. Right now, roughly a hundred million people in the U.S. have obesity. This is a chronic disease that leads to diabetes, heart disease, certain forms of cancer, liver disease, osteoarthritis, and a host of other conditions. But for the most part, people receive no medical care for obesity. A new report […]
