Drug Prices & Regulations – Page 85 – The Goodman Institute Health Blog

Medicare and Wegovy

Posted on July 23, 2024 by John C. Goodman

A report by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) estimates that treating even half of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries with obesity would cost $166 billion per year, nearly the cost of total spending on all prescription drugs in 2022 ($175 billion).

Source: STAT (gated)

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Saturday Links

Posted on July 20, 2024July 19, 2024 by John C. Goodman

The number of active drug shortages in the U.S. is 300, down from an all-time high of 323. But nothing to cheer about.
Microsoft global outage forces health systems to cancel appointments, delay procedures.
Everything to know about the theory of language.
OpenAI’s GPT-4o scored 98 percent on some of the most challenging parts of the US Medical Licensing Examination.
Happiness seems to increase with the log of absolute income, so going from $50k to $100k has a much larger impact than going from $250k to $300k.
How the Biden administration interprets “march-in” rights: New guidance explicitly states that the government could march in and seize the patents underlying any product officials think is overpriced, in fields from AI to aeronautics. Recommended.

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Thursday Links

Posted on July 18, 2024July 18, 2024 by John C. Goodman

Since 2001, Medicare physician payments have fallen 30 percent behind the rate of inflation.
The rising cost of Obamacare: CBO: subsidies will cost $1.3 trillion over the next decade and Medicaid expansion will cost another $1.4 trillion. (WSJ)
Claim: Group purchasing organizations (GPOs) are partly responsible for drug shortages. (Speculative)
Medicare Part D enrollees: expect more restrictive formularies and utilization controls. Plans “may steer Medicare beneficiaries to use drugs that have to be administered by a doctor rather than pills that can be picked up at a pharmacy.”
Three weaknesses with hospital “all payer” systems: (1) self-insured employers (most large companies) are exempt, (2) Medicare Advantage plans are exempt and (3) hospital participation must be voluntary.

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Tuesday Links

Posted on July 16, 2024July 16, 2024 by John C. Goodman

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