Hardly a day goes by but what I read about a fentanyl overdose. I’ve also noticed an increased number of news articles about people from the entertainment industry dying unexpectedly. I always assume unexpected deaths among otherwise healthy people are drug related. According to the National Safety Council, more than 67,000 people died of fentanyl overdoses in 2021.
Author: Devon Herrick
Conspiracy Between Drug Companies and PBMs Inhibit Generic Competition
Last year the state of Tennessee health plan paid $62,000 apiece for 775 patients who were on the biologic drug Humira. Humira is used for autoimmune and inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease and others. All told Tennessee spent nearly $50 million on one drug. This is a lot of money for only 775 patients. What is even more amazing is that nine (9) different new drugs biosimilar to Humira just hit the market. The lowest price for a generic copy is $994 a month. That is shy of $12,000 a year, or about $50,000 a year cheaper than Humira.
Why Are More Poor Kids Fat than Rich Kids?
Obesity is a bigger problem than hunger in the United States. Among the poor obesity is especially a bigger problem than hunger. When hunger occurs it’s not hunger that is the problem, rather hunger is a symptom of other problems. The problems that lead to hunger are child neglect, dementia, infirmity, elder abuse, drug abuse, etc.
Jindal & Katebi: Better Ways to Lower Drug Costs
Former Louisiana governor (also former HHS secretary) Bobby Jindal and Charlie Katebi wrote an editorial in the Washington Examiner explaining how to rein-in high drug costs. To start with they don’t like the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). President Biden championed the IRA as a way for Medicare to lower drug costs for a small, insignificant number of hyper expensive drugs. For the uninitiated, the IRA allows Medicare to identify 10 high-cost drugs and negotiate the cost down, using punitive excise taxes if drug companies refuse. Jindal and Katebi have a point. The IRAs price negotiation formula is a Rube Goldberg-type of policy mechanism that only Democrats’ legislative writers would think up.