The Biden administration said it would penalize drugmakers for raising prices faster than inflation on 27 medications administered in doctors’ offices. Pfizer had the most drugs on the list, which includes AbbVie for its blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drug, Humira, as well as manufacturers Gilead, Endo, Leadiant Biosciences, and Kamada.
According to the new University of Colorado Boulder research, patients-turned-social-media-influencers routinely offer prescription drug advice to their followers and often have close ties with pharma. If they’re paid, they are DTC; you had better let your audience know they are compensated.
I could argue strongly that patients have changed how they make healthcare treatment decisions based on what happened over the last three years. Research found that 61 percent of participants trusted the pharmaceutical sector, but despite this increase, the pharma sector is the least trusted subsector of healthcare. The question then becomes, “do people trust DTC marketing?”.
Although only 27 to 42 years old in 2023, Millennials experience chronic conditions at significant rates. Compared to other age groups, this generation and their children are high utilizers of the health care system.
Nearly a quarter of Americans have medical debt, according to a LendingTree survey fielded earlier in 2022. These medical expenses are often unforeseen, which can be problematic for Americans without established emergency funds, with small credit card limits, or other roadblocks. However, Toledo, Ohio, passed a community-scale medical debt relief initiative in partnership with Lucas County.
Fewer than half of Americans rate the quality of U.S. health care as excellent or good. Only 12% say it is handled extremely or very well. Americans have similar views about health care for older adults. The public gives even lower marks for how prescription drug costs, the quality of care at nursing homes, and mental health care are handled, with just 6% or less saying those health services are done very well in the country. Can it ever be improved?
To gauge the level of health misinformation, all one has to do is go to LinkedIn. Numerous stories about “potential” new treatments lack context about their development. Now comes word that there may be gastric side effects from using the latest weight loss drugs. The media is using headlines to attract attention, but they aren’t doing their job to investigate an inform.
Big Insurance revenues and profits have increased by 300% and 287%, respectively, since 2012 due to explosive growth in the companies’ pharmacy benefit management (PBM) businesses and the Medicare replacement plans they call Medicare Advantage. The for-profits now control over 80% of the national PBM market and over 70% of the Medicare Advantage market.