HHS says it doesn’t have time to review itself.
Category: Cost of Healthcare
FTC to Fight Drug Rebates and Fees that Reduce Competition
On June 16, 2022 the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a policy statement on drug rebates and fees paid by drug makers. The rebates and fee are paid to Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) sometimes in return for excluding cheaper alternatives on a drug plan formulary. The way it works is a drug maker will jack up the price of a given drug (like insulin) but give a steep discount to the PBM in return for guarantees that the plan will not include generic versions that cost far lesson the formulary.
Wednesday Links
- Harvard Study: Medicare could save $3.6 billion a year by taking advantage of Mark Cuban’s new mail order pharmacy.
- Nearly 1 in 4 women in the United States will have an abortion by the age of 45; and almost 93 percent are performed before the 13th week.
- “The greatest heist of American taxpayer dollars in history.” They’re talking about Covid money lost to fraud.
- In Texas, physicians who earn a “gold card” no longer have to endure the hassles of prior authorization.
- The part of covid that’s not over: every large city is below 50% of its office space being occupied.
Public Health Experts: America has an Eating, Drinking and Lack of Exercise Problem
America has a collective drinking problem. And an eating problem. This is all made worse by Americans propensity to sit at home watching TV or playing video games. A recent study has found that deaths from alcoholic cirrhosis have more than tripled in 20 years. In 1999 alcoholic cirrhosis killed 6,007 Americans or about 3.3 per 100,000 adults. By 2019 the death rate had risen to 10.6 per 100,000. Keep in mind this is only for adults aged 25 to 85+