WHAT I”M THINKING: Are there things wrong with the pharma industry? Yes, but because of the pharma
Pharma, alone, is not to blame for our sad state of healthcare
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Category Archives: Cost of healthcare in the U.S.
Can pharma regain the trust of a very skeptical public?
SUMMARY: Make no mistake about it; change is coming to healthcare. What that change will entail and actually look like is anybody’s guess but pharma companies cannot continue to ignore the prevailing wind of change.
Continue readingEmployers are sharing more of their healthcare costs with their workers
SUMMARY: Faced with rising premiums, U.S. employers are sharing more of their costs with their workers, particularly through higher deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance. Recent research indicates that employer plan premium contributions and out-of-pocket costs, like those for prescription drugs, are eating up an increasing portion of household budgets
Continue readingHospital care is the largest driver of U.S. health prices
SUMMARY: Drug pricing is the political controversy of the moment, but hospitals cost the health care system far more. Retail drug spending represents 10% of U.S. health care spending, while hospital and doctor services consume about half of spending.
Continue readingCouch Potato Index
SUMMARY: Consumer Protect looked at states where adults engage “in zero physical leisure activity,” which they dubbed the “Couch Potato Index.” Kentucky was No. 1, with 34.4 percent of adults in the state engaging in zero physical activity. Mississippi and Arkansas followed behind with 33.2 percent and 32.5 percent, respectively. There are many obesity-related health conditions, namely heart disease, type 2 diabetes, some types of cancer and stroke, among other health ailments, according to the CDC. This is costing us ALL more healthcare dollars.
Continue readingSome pesky healthcare facts
SUMMARY: Health care is playing a prominent role at the start of the 2020 presidential primary season with Democratic candidates offering competing proposals aimed at expanding coverage to more Americans but what do American’s really think about healthcare?
Continue readingPharma’s addiction to consulting companies
SUMMARY: According to the NY Times “McKinsey offered advice to a drug company on how to increase opioid sales at a time when abuse of its pain medicine was widespread. Earlier this month, the State of Massachusetts released new documents from 2013 that detailed McKinsey’s recommendations on how Purdue Pharma could “turbocharge” sales of its widely abused opioid OxyContin. The state said McKinsey advised Purdue to sharply increase sales visits to targeted doctors and to consider mail orders as a way to bypass pharmacies that had been tightening oversight of opioid prescriptions.
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