This summer’s heat wave is scorching Texas and much of the United States. It has also led to record temperatures in places like the United Kingdom where it reached 104 degrees in July. The UK is currently bracing up for another week of hot weather. Temperatures have been high across Europe. Paris is currently frying which is not uncommon in July and August.
Category: News and Events
Who Benefits from Drug Rebates? Mostly Health Plans (Not Consumers)
Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) have been in the news lately. PBMs manage drug benefits for insurers, self-insured employer health plans, Medicare Advantage plans and Medicare Part D. Recently executives from the three largest PBMs were hauled before Congress to discuss their business models. One reason for scrutiny is that the three largest PBMs control about 80% of the market.
Wednesday Links
- Tyler Cowen: Given the incredibly good return we are getting on drugs, shouldn’t we be spending more on pharmaceutics, not less?
- Republicans need an alternative to drug price fixing. I’ve given them a good start.
- The very worst health care provisions in the IRA bill.
- Life is a bitch, if you have diabetes.
- Claims about Covid: It was CCP biological warfare.
One-Third of Patients don’t Take their Medication as Directed
Patients don’t follow directions. A Canadian study found nearly one-third of patients don’t take their medications as directed. This is news to me. I thought it would have been a much higher proportion that are medication nonadherent. Medscape medical news reports:
In a study that examined more than 200,000 patients and 91,000 unique prescriptions, overall nonadherence rates ranged from 13.7% for patients prescribed antidepressants to 30.3% for patients prescribed antihypertensive therapies.