Cancer drugs are expensive. When Congress mandated unlimited benefits through the ACA, it virtually guaranteed that the sky would be the limit on pricing. Cancer survival has increased tremendously in the past few decades, but much of that increase is due to fewer Americans smoking, since lung cancer is both deadly and difficult to treat. While cancer drugs are getting better, the rise in cost has far outpaced the improvement.
Thursday Links – 3 September 2026
- Mark Cuban: hospitals don’t know their costs.
- RFK, Jr: Health care providers, insurers and health technology companies paid the AMA more than $300 million last year for permission to use its Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes. (InsideHealthPolicy)
- Why NYC has a housing problem: Between 1998 and 2026, there were 3,364 new laws affecting housing in the city.
- Why we need skilled immigrants.
WSJ: An Avalanche of Blockbuster Drugs Face Patent Expiration
The Wall Street Journal reports that about every major drug company has a blockbuster drug that will face generic competition within the next few years. In the coming years drugs with annual sales of nearly $500 billion will lose exclusivity as their patents expire. That suggests – at least in theory – that consumers will potentially reap savings of at least $400 billion dollars a year. Congress should take steps to make sure it happens.
Wednesday Links – 2 September 2026
- Study: Climbing at least six flights a day reduces the likelihood of a major cardiovascular issue, like stroke or heart attack.
- Should Robert E. Lee’s portrait hang at West Point?
- 12 OECD countries had individual net wealth taxes in 1990. By 2017, only four OECD countries still had them.
- The new pancreatic cancer drug will cost $480,000 a year. (NYT)
- Electronic medical records: The industry became exceptionally good at documenting encounters…. What it never became particularly good at was helping individuals assemble those encounters into a coherent picture of their health over time.