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The Goodman Institute Health Blog

Monday Links

Posted on May 27, 2024May 26, 2024 by John C. Goodman

“Dopamine is probably the most famous neurotransmitter in the brain…. It has a long history, and a lot of baggage.”

Could the government’s price negotiations actually make drug prices higher?

Social Security’s Financial Reality Is Worse Than Reported: “Despite nearly 20 years of declining and low actual fertility rates, currently sitting at 1.62 births per woman, the Trustees have just this year lowered somewhat the ultimate fertility rate from 2.0 to 1.9 children per woman…”

How we pay for health care: Total federal spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and individual market subsidies alone amount to $1.67 trillion per year…. In addition, income tax exemptions for employment-based insurance reduce federal revenues by over $300 billion per year.

Controlling the cost of insulin: the market works better than government.

2 thoughts on “Monday Links”

  1. Bob Hertz says:
    May 27, 2024 at 9:32 am

    Regarding the cost of insulin…..

    The public pressure for price controls (at least here in MN) came from the case of Alec Smith, who died because he could not afford $1300 a month for insulin in 2021.

    The benefits of competition sure did not reach him. I would be curious to know why.

    Also, Pat Toomey who wrote this article now works for Big Pharma. Caution is warranted.

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    Reply
    1. Bart Ingles says:
      May 27, 2024 at 7:17 pm

      Alec Smith apparently died in 2017. Mayo Clinic breaks down the reasons for insulin’s costs in an essay that will make your head spin: https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(19)31008-0/fulltext

      John Abramson also talks about Smith’s case and more in “Sickening: How Big Pharma Broke American Health Care and How We Can Repair It.” One reason Abramson gives is that the Pharma corporations continually pushed newer formulations with higher monopoly prices, going from relatively cheap animal-derived insulin in the 1920’s and recombinant human insulin in the 1980’s, to various patented insulin analogs starting from the 1990’s. The latter with only marginal improvements in safety and efficacy.

      Insulin aside, I did find Toomey’s conclusion defending PBMs to be disturbing.

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