Cancer therapy is often an excruciating process with numerous debilitating side effects. It is also expensive. Yet, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves dose and regimens of cancer drugs that are longer – and more costly – than what some experts say is necessary.
Category: Health Insurance
Thursday Links – 20 August 2026
- America is experiencing its biggest prescription drug price deflation in generations.
- The good news: New CMS guidance requires Medicaid and CHIP, Medicare Advantage and exchange insurers to post certain metrics, such as a list of all services requiring prior authorization, to the plans’ public-facing websites in an easily accessible location.
- The bad news: More needs to be done.
- Two approaches to fixing Medicaid.
- Why have prescription drug prices seen the biggest drop in 60 years?
- LLMs size you up. If it thinks you are low socioeconomic status and you ask about travel options, it may filter out more expensive flights – without you asking it!
Wednesday Links – 19 August 2026
- Medicare Advantage plans give enrollees an average of $2,660 per member for benefits not available from traditional Medicare.
- Study: Nearly one-third of all women ages 20 to 44 will have heart disease in 2050, up from one-fourth today.
- Study: More than half of patients with metastatic lung cancer don’t receive life-extending treatments.
- A 2012 randomized controlled trial sponsored by the federal government found that children assigned to Head Start showed transient improvements in language and literacy during preschool. But “these early effects rapidly dissipated in elementary school,” the study found, and participants performed no better academically by third grade.
- The French lilac, a garden plant that was used to treat diabetes for centuries became the blueprint for metformin.
GLP-1 Weight Loss Drugs Are Truly Wonder Drugs
The new class of weight loss drugs, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1), were originally developed to treat diabetes. Along the way something curious began to happen. People lost weight and lost their desire to gorge on food.