Many people equate peptides to snake oil, while others are quick to remind that numerous FDA approved drugs are peptides. Glucagon, the active ingredient in GLP-1 drugs occurs naturally in the body but has a short half-life. Scientists figured out a way to make the half-life last roughly one week rather than mere minutes. Telemedicine startups are trying to cash in on the peptide craze, as are many doctors. Much of the information about peptides comes from peptide sellers and longevity doctors on YouTube.
Category: Drug Prices & Regulations
Wednesday Links – 24 June 2026
- Opioid pain contracts turn doctors into parole officers.
- California has affirmative action for gays.
- What Alan Greenspan did for us.
- Latin America swings to the right.
- Congress can save $350 billion over the next decade by restricting states’ use of Medicaid financing gimmicks.
- Another scheme: States Exploit Intergovernmental Transfers to Shift Medicaid Costs to Federal Taxpayers.
Skin Substitutes Are Another Example of Medicare Fraud
Medicare is plagued by waste, fraud, and abuse. I have written about questionable spending numerous times in the past. From unnecessary orthopedic leg braces, to unneeded urinary catheters, to Medicare hospice where patients routinely outlive the six months period they’re only supposed to survive, even to healthy patients unknowingly entered into hospice which is then billed to Medicare. Medicare beneficiaries sometimes discover they were fraudulently enrolled in hospice when they are turned down for therapeutic care.
Some Patients Travel Abroad for Cheaper Drug Prices
Consider the drug, Trikafta, for cystic fibrosis. It’s a specialty drug that costs nearly $14,000 for a prescription, or about $346,000 a year. The patent(s) are not expected to expire for another 11.5 years. Of course, very few cystic fibrosis patients can afford that, but they’re not expected to. Their health insurers or employee health plans are supposed to pony up $350k a year on their behalf. To some degree you can thank Obamacare for hyper expensive drugs. By banning annual caps and lifetime caps on benefits (and mandating drug coverage) the Affordable Care Act created a market for completely unaffordable drugs.