Back to back. Arnold Ventures put out the latest anti-pharma talking points (h/t Brian Reid) and here were two back to back – Here’s the problem, it really isn’t about the cost of drugs. I mean you could take that drug price and reduce it 98% and the 25% cost share would still be too…
PDAB-adieu. This week Governor Youngkin vetoed a bill that would have established a prescription drug affordability board (PDAB) in the state. The PDAB would have had authority over state-sponsored and state-regulated health plans. Younkin said that the PDAB would have determined drug availability solely on cost rather than unique patient needs and the opinions of…
Happy International Women’s Day. Best display of International Women’s day I’ve ever seen was in Russia when I was studying abroad. They took it SERIOUSLY. Not just a LinkedIn Holiday. Cat-astrophe? No, just a political speech – not reality. President Biden talked about increasing the number of negotiated drugs up to 50 a year. Not…
Honestly? Not a lot caught my eye this week. Maybe we were all heads down getting stuff done before a long weekend? You say MPPP, I say smoothing. Late yesterday afternoon the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released Draft 2 guidance for the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan. I’ve heard Michael Ward from Alliance for…
A whirlwind of a week. I regrouped on Wednesday and got a run in and some pottery wheel time and then it all fell apart again (in a good way) on Thursday where I forgot to leave my desk for hours and hours. One of those “I love working” and forget time exists. So much…
It is rare for me to print things anymore; limited access to a giant corporate printer cuts down on the urge. But today I got the printer going, grabbed the highlighter and dug in. The paper? “Is the price right? Paying for value today to get more value tomorrow.” If I were a health policy…
It used to be that pharmaceutical manufacturers had to worry (mostly) about federal health policy. Every few years manage through a big piece of legislation from Congress and then the regulation on Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act and any regulation that came out of the legislation. But over the past few years, the drug…
One of my resolutions for this year is to get outside for a good walk every day. Get some air, get some steps, listen to a podcast. A break from work. Unless the podcast on money in university sports gets the thoughts spiraling to work parallels. Yesterday I was listening to the New York Time’s…
Orange you glad? Florida got approval from the Food and Drug Administration to import drugs from Canada. Ho-hum. The “how” still has to be figured out and approved and that isn’t easy. Canada has about the population of California. It doesn’t want to supply the United States with drugs. It’s one of those ideas that…
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…