Panel on NPR’s ‘Talk of the Nation’ Discusses Prescription Drug Use, Prices and Advertising

The second hour of NPR's "Talk of the Nation" on April 9 featured a panel discussion on questions raised by the recent National Institute for Health Management study that found U.S. prescription drug spending rose more than 17% in 2001, driven largely by several "heavily advertised, high-priced" treatments. Host Neal Conan asked panel members if Americans "take more drugs than [they] really need," how consumers can "manage these price hikes" and whether patients are asking their physicians to prescribe the drugs they see advertised on television. The panel included:

• Stuart Altman, a health economist and professor of national health policy at Brandeis University's Heller School for Social Policy and Management;
• Dr. Sharon Levine, associate executive director of the Permanente Medical Group in California;
• Dr. Michael Miller, a health policy and communications consultant; and
• Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group.