- US health care spending has outpaced OECD spending since the passage of Obamacare.
- America is the only country where a majority of people think their fellow citizens are “morally bad.”
- Why are drug overdose deaths declining?
- How Trump’s latest pharma deals may undermine efforts to rein in drug costs.
- The Hospital at Home program is ready to scale.
Category: Cost of Healthcare
The High Cost of Cancer Drugs
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.