A Gizmodo investigation into some of the nation’s biggest data brokers found more than two dozen promoting access to datasets containing digital information on millions of pregnant and potentially pregnant people across the country. At least one of those companies also offered an extensive catalog of people using birth control targeted by more restrictive states, But is this true?
Democrats have been campaigning for 30 years on promises they’d let Medicare directly negotiate the cost of prescription drugs. Now, after the majority of voters want reduced costs for their prescription drugs, the bill seems ready to pass despite record pharma lobbying.
Nationwide, prescription drug spending last year is estimated to be $328 billion among all payers, including private insurance, Medicare Part D, and patients’ out-of-pocket expenses. Reforms to let Medicare negotiate prices, cap out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs, and limit insulin cost-sharing would make lifesaving drugs more affordable. Still, the pharma industry is fighting hard to keep it off the table.
A federal appeals court rejected Pfizer’s challenge to a U.S. anti-kickback law that the drugmaker said prevented it from helping heart failure patients, many with low incomes, afford the medicine that costs $225,000 annually. For many, these coupons represent the difference between filling a prescription and going without lifesaving care, but there is a lot more here than just a co-pay coupon.
Quick Read: Amazon will dramatically expand its healthcare reach with its planned $3.9 billion acquisition of One Medical, a primary care provider with 188 offices in 25 markets nationwide but are they making a strategic move or a mistake? Telehealth has a future, but one could argue that physicians need to see patients firsthand to diagnose and evaluate patients. We also have to ponder the number of people who need more tests and coordination of medical records between HCPs.
The pandemic is changing consumer behavior, and there is zero chance they will return to their carefree spending ways. Using the same ads to advertise prescription drugs repeatedly is a waste of money and doesn’t lead to sales.
A new analysis released Wednesday by Patients for Affordable Drugs estimates that pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. have raised drug prices 1,186 times so far this year. But they’re not alone. Health insurers in individual marketplaces across 13 states and Washington D.C. will raise rates an average of 10% next year, according to a review of rate filings by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
According to a STAT analysis of hundreds of financial filings, the CEOs of approximately 300 health care companies collectively took home more than $4.5 billion in 2021. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals CEO Leonard Schleifer represented 10% of that total on his own, pulling in an astounding $453 million. Sometimes there are no words.