- Paragon study: In 2023, the federal government is expected to spend 6.2 percent of the economy (or more than $1.6 trillion) on mandatory health programs. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that within 30 years, the federal government will annually spend at least 9 percent of the economy on those programs. And this is a conservative estimate.
- A little-noticed provision of the omnibus spending bill could give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the power to ban off-label use of approved therapies, even though 1 in 5 prescriptions written are for an off-label use.
- Study: Laughter really is contagious – and that’s good. (WaPo)
- Diversity training not only doesn’t work, it may actually backfire. So why are we spending $3.4B a year on it? (NYT)
- Fourth Quarter lobbying: almost $7 million by the American Hospital Association and $6.6 million by PhRMA. As Milton Friedman said, the question is not why we get so many bad laws; the question is, why aren’t things worse?
- Amazon will sell generic drugs for as little as $5 a month. But, no Medicare or Medicaid or private insurance.
- 25 of the 37 novel drugs approved in 2022, were first approved in the US.
Category: Drug Prices & Regulations
The War on Drugs that Save Lives and Cure Diseases
About 85% of new medicines launched between 2012 and 2021 were available in the U.S., compared to 61% in Germany, 59% in the U.K. and 52% in France and Italy. Bluebird bio in 2021 said it was unwinding operations in Europe and withdrawing gene therapies for rare diseases, citing the challenges of “achieving appropriate value…
Friday Links
- Reason (magazine) investigation: CDC used Facebook to silence Covid dissent.
- More than 1,000 nursing homes reached a 75% infection rate during the Covid pandemic.
- For: more off label uses of existing drugs.
- IRA bill is already affecting drug development – negatively.
- What it will cost to attend this year’s Super Bowl game: almost $9,000.
- The Manchin/Capito Trust Act would force Congress to do what it doesn’t want to do: Tackle our unfunded entitlement liabilities.
Thursday Links
- Half of all Medicare beneficiaries are now in Medicare Advantage plans.
- Gallup: 38% say they or a family member put off medical care because of costs – the highest number in 22 years.
- Cato: Black civil servants earned approximately 3.4 – 6.9 percentage points less because of the segregationist policies of Woodrow Wilson – the 20th century’s most prominent “progressive.”
- Mark Cuban’s online Cost Plus Drug Co. as 2 million customers. Cuban says the pharmacy could have saved his Dallas Mavericks basketball team $146,000. So why didn’t they?