Driving home (the message.) Yesterday President Biden drove up to the National Institutes of Health and gave a speech about drug prices. My main issue with it is the traffic caused by shutting down the beltway and all the roads around my neighborhood. Okay and I think that a lot of the inflation penalties for…
Marching right past. Senator Bernie Sanders held up the head of the NIH hearings because he wanted to make sure march-in rights were part of the policy conversations on drug pricing. I can’t decide if march-in rights are like your 1st grade teacher asking for part of your salary because she was part of your…
Patient no more. A few weeks ago I wrote about how thanks to the HIV Hepatitis Policy Institute, the Diabetes Leadership Council and the Diabetes Patient Advocacy Coalition and their suit against the Department of Health and Human Services, accumulator programs were dealt a blow. They can only be used if it is for a branded…
Guess which one costs more. This Wall Street Journal article has been making the rounds this week. It highlights how if there are two prices for a drug, plans tend to prefer the higher cost one with higher rebates. I hesitate to call it news because it seems so obvious to those of us who…
InNOvation. Seagen said they aren’t looking at a drug that would treat early-stage bladder cancer because it would be subject to negotiation too soon after approval and wouldn’t have a financial return on the investment. Today the National Pharmaceutical Council published a great piece in Health Affairs that goes deeper into the subject of innovation…
Caught my ear? This story on NPR about drug shortages and how one woman is trying to plug the holes was fantastic. Two takeaways – (1) never underestimate a mother whose kid needs help and (2) figuring out drug shortages should be more systematic and not a game of “whack a mole.” Nothing but net.…
Medicare Math. Medicare Part B premiums will go up about 6% next year, Social Security cost of living adjustment will be 3.2%. Really Stupid Vaccine Policies. Sometimes a story hits just right like this Washington Post opinion piece on RSV vaccines for adults and how the access is harmed by coverage policies. This year two…
Patients driving change. I love this story because it involves Carl Schmid, patient groups and copay accumulators. Copay accumulators are when insurance does not allow pharmaceutical manufacturer contributions to count towards patient out-of-pocket spending calculations. Thanks to the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, the Diabetes Leadership Council and the Diabetes Patient Advocacy Coalition and their suit against…
It’s not a vacation. Let’s start with federal employees; you deserve better. You often could get paid more elsewhere but you want to serve. And instead of saying thank you, Congress asks you to take a seat on the bench and (hopefully) get backpay. It feels awful and I am so sorry you have to…
Suited up: The Department of Justice responded to Merck’s Medicare negotiation suit. It leaned into the argument that this is a negotiation. “Manufacturers that do not wish to make their drugs available at negotiated prices can avoid doing so by forgoing sales of the relevant drugs to Medicare beneficiaries— including by withdrawing from the Medicare…