Trying to change my view. I don’t know if it is summer malaise setting in or an existential crisis about the state of society, sometimes it is hard to tell. Earlier this week, Jessica Yellin of News Not Noise pointed out that a lot of articles are really negatively titled and it is driving a sense of pessimism. Then I saw an article titled “The Trouble with Turmeric” and I thought – is there trouble with turmeric?
Worth the Feelings. The Wall Street Journal wrote about the cost of cancer care and patient debt. And when I was at the eye doctor this morning, a woman was worrying about the cost of the eye exam and her copay (likely about $20 plus the one screening was $35 and not covered.) Earlier this week I was frustrated with state Medicaid and how they silo off drug spending and don’t think of it in the bigger picture. I wonder if the problem is that we need to start thinking about the bigger picture of affordability and then go back to thinking about its components.
Ultimately I blame this book on Nordic culture on how I now view the U.S.. Now I’m not a socialist but couldn’t we be a little more egalitarian? Particularly when it comes to health. I warned you, I’m in a mood. Now on to puppies and unicorns (not really.)
Round and round we go In this corner we have PhRMA and community health centers and boy are they happy about the 340B Access Act that was proposed this week. In the other corner we have 340B hospitals, who, as you may imagine, were not happy. The bill would require that needy patients benefit directly from 340B and define who is a patient (seen by entity at least once a year.) If you’re not into the whole brevity thing – here is the ASAP 340B coalition summary.
Other 340B news, Novartis suing Maryland over its 340B contract pharmacy law which goes into effect July 1.
Fool me once. Last Fall the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) held patient listening sessions to get patient feedback on the 10 drugs that are being “negotiated” by Medicare for 2026. It wasn’t great. In its latest guidance, CMS is asking for feedback on how to improve. I highly encourage patient groups to write to CMS about what they’d like to see in terms of engagement. It can be super short, a page or two. Need a starting point? National Health Council conducted a roundtable and released a report on patient engagement.
Coverage and Coding and Medicare. Like Medicare Advantage and coverage and coding (who doesn’t?), Health Affairs has you covered.
Looking ahead. There has been a burst of what is next stories regarding what-ifs about the election and Medicare negotiation. General idea is that Biden would double-down on Inflation Reduction Act and Medicare negotiation and Trump could look at international pricing again. And maybe do something with Affordable Care Act subsidies that are expiring in 2025.