Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: 340B Issue An Unneeded Distraction For Safety-Net Hospitals
Fierce Healthcare: Industry Voices: Why Drug Companies Should Stop Meddling In The 340B Program
Even with drug prices skyrocketing and new drugs coming to market at astronomical starting prices, a group of drug companies continues to seek ways to boost profits even higher. By targeting drug discounts required by the 340B drug pricing program, companies are hurting safety net hospitals, health centers and public health clinics serving the Americans most in need. In his recent opinion piece, drug industry consultant Jeremy Docken demonstrates how companies are broadening their attacks on 340B. He argues the program has grown too large and needs industry intervention to rein it in, but he omits several important facts. (Maureen Testoni, president and CEO of 340B Health, 6/18)
Columbus Dispatch: Pharmacy Benefit Managers Increase Costs, Reduce Options
You know you have a big problem when $88 million is just the tip of the iceberg drifting toward you. But that pretty much sums up what the $88 million that Centene, America's 24th-largest corporation, agreed to pay Ohio means in the discussion about pharmacy benefit managers. The settlement is in response to a lawsuit filed three months ago by State Attorney General David Yost, who said Centene and Envolve and Buckeye Community Health Plan, its wholly owned subsidiaries that provide pharmacy benefit management services, were double-billing the state. (6/20)
San Diego Union-Tribune: Congress Should Support The Lower Drug Costs Now Act For Affordable Medicine
As the mom of two children with Type 1 diabetes, I constantly worry: What if my husband and I lose our health coverage or can no longer afford the medicines they need because drug corporations raise the prices beyond our means? Our sons, Thomas and Owen, both have Type 1 diabetes. Owen was diagnosed in 2011 at age 2 and Thomas was diagnosed in 2017 at age 9. They will need insulin for the rest of their lives to manage the condition. When it comes to the price of insulin, the drug corporations have all the power and families like us are at their mercy. (Annemarie Gibson, 6/21)
Colorado Politics: Only Congress Can Rein In Big Pharma
In the fall of 1955, my twin brother and I switched schools from Alexandria, Virginia, to Fort Worth, Texas, when our father left the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission to join General Dynamics' nuclear plane project. Before we entered junior high school, we had attended eight elementary schools. In our new fifth grade was a classmate afflicted with both diabetes and hemophilia. He could not participate in recess games and we were constantly warned there could be no accidental bumping, rough housing or fighting of any kind near him. Twice each day he reported to the nurse’s office to receive an insulin shot. Despite these precautions he frequently sported large, ugly bruises. (Miller Hudson, 6/21)
Insider NJ: It’s Time To Solve The Prescription Drug Price Crisis
If the COVID-19 pandemic taught us anything, it’s that our nation needs to get serious about our approach to public health. There are many flaws and inefficiencies in the healthcare system in need of reform, but one of the most pressing is the astronomically high costs that drug companies charge for prescription medication. The sticker shock that patients face to fill life-saving drugs is a burden for too many families, and if we are truly going to build our country back following the pandemic, bringing down prescription drug costs has to be our top goal. (Ruth Dugan, 6/17)
