Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: Do We Spend Too Much Time Scrutinizing The Price Of Drugs?
The Washington Post: To Really Lower Health-Care Costs, Look Beyond Prescription Drugs
There’s a well-known allegory about a man searching for his keys under a lamppost. Although he freely admits to a passing policeman to losing them elsewhere in the darkness, he searches under the lamppost because that’s where the light is. For decades, the cost of drugs has been under the lamppost for those searching for the keys to lower health-care spending. By all accounts, with the new administration, this focus is likely to be renewed. (Anupam B. Jena, 2/16)
The New York Times: Drug Prices By Committee: One Way Biden Could Lower Costs
The United States receives worthwhile innovation (and also some not so worthwhile innovation) as a result of its high drug prices. But there is no consensus about what the “right” level of innovation should be, so it’s unclear how much to lower or raise prices. Other countries at least have ways to think about this at a national level. The United States doesn’t — the topic has been a third rail — but the Biden administration could change that. (Austin Frakt, 2/11)
The Desert Sun: Medi-Cal Overhaul Sounds Good On Paper
State officials are fond of giving their high-concept — and expensive — new programs snappy, one-word acronyms derived from much-longer and often awkward official titles. Thus, for example, the Financial Information System for California is shortened to become FI$Cal. Unfortunately, officials are often more adept at dreaming up names for new programs than at making them function — and FI$Cal has become a poster child for expensive dysfunction. (Dan Walters, 2/16)
