FTC to target patent abuses. (WSJ)
Tomas Philipson: So called “patent abuses” are exaggerated.
What the FDA gets wrong about drugs for rare diseases.
An argument for more regulation of direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs. Although very one-sided. Our biggest problem is that the chronically ill are under-consuming drugs, not over-consuming them.
Thanks for posting the Capretta article. He is a fine writer.
However, I don’t think that this particular article touched on ‘premium medicine’ at all. I sure cannot find any references to it in the piece.
Arnold Kling has actually written about premium medicine; so has Robin Hanson.
I am an agnostic about the issue. It is true that we spend vast amounts on transplants, and people with late stage cancer. To the patients, these certainly are not “minimal benefits.”
Let’s say that we could isolate overpriced procedures. (theoretically – the public would never stand for this.) Would our spending go down? By how much?
This is a huge and fascinating topic. Ain’t simple though.