The New York Times: Donald Trump Is Elected President In Stunning Repudiation Of The Establishment
Donald John Trump was elected the 45th president of the United States on Tuesday in a stunning culmination of an explosive, populist and polarizing campaign that took relentless aim at the institutions and long-held ideals of American democracy. The surprise outcome, defying late polls that showed Hillary Clinton with a modest but persistent edge, threatened convulsions throughout the country and the world, where skeptics had watched with alarm as Mr. Trump’s unvarnished overtures to disillusioned voters took hold. (Flegenheimer and Barbaro, 11/9)

The New York Times: Republicans, Buoyed By Trump’s Performance, Keep Control Of Senate
Republicans maintained control of the Senate on Tuesday, fending off numerous Democratic challengers who polls showed were leading going into Election Day, as incumbents were pulled along by Donald J. Trump’s unanticipated strength in several key battleground states. Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Richard M. Burr of North Carolina and Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania made late comebacks to win re-election and to help ensure Republicans retained power. (Steinhaurer, 11/9)

The Associated Press: Republicans Expand Control Of Governorships, Legislatures
Republicans have expanded their power in state capitols to their strongest levels in decades, picking up several previously held Democratic governorships while also claiming control of some key legislative chambers. The Republican gains in statehouses capped a remarkable election in which Donald Trump won the presidency and the GOP held on to majorities in the U.S. Senate and House. (11/9)

Reuters: Trump, Congress Will Be In Sync On Some Issues, But Long-Term Questions Loom
Trump and the Republican leadership in Congress agree on at least one major policy: They want to repeal Democratic President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare law, known as Obamacare, enacted in 2010. “I would expect the very first thing a Republican Congress would do would be to repeal Obamacare,” said Republican Oklahoma Representative Tom Cole, a Ryan ally, in an interview on Monday. Such a step would shake the U.S. healthcare and insurance industries, which have broadly called for measured reforms to Obamacare, although not for its full-scale repeal. (Cornwell and Cowan, 11/9)

Politico Pro: Trump Victory Puts Obamacare Dismantling Within Reach
Donald Trump’s ascension to the White House puts President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act — and health insurance for some 20 million Americans — in grave peril. Ever since the law passed in 2010, Republicans have campaigned on a pledge to repeal Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement. Trump’s victory gives them their first opportunity to do so. (Haberkorn, 11/9)

Modern Healthcare: Trump Upset Will Force Healthcare Leaders To Rethink The Future
Republican Donald Trump's shocking victory Tuesday will force a major shift in the healthcare industry's thinking about its future. Combined with the GOP's retention of control of the Senate and the House, a Trump presidency enables conservatives to repeal or roll back the Affordable Care Act and implement at least some of the proposals outlined in the GOP party platform and the recent House Republican leadership white paper on healthcare. (Meyer, 11/9)

Bloomberg: President-Elect Trump Faced With Turning Promises Into Policy 
Trump says he’ll ask Congress to immediately repeal the Affordable Care Act, Obama’s signature domestic achievement. He has criticized the law for large premium increases in its government-run insurance markets. Even if Democrats in the Senate are able to block wholesale repeal, Republicans could gut some of the law’s key provisions, such as premium subsidies for insurance, a requirement that Americans carry insurance and an expansion of Medicaid for the poor. (Olorunnipa and Wayne, 11/9)

Kaiser Health News: Trump, GOP In Congress Could Use 'Must-Pass' Bills To Bring Health Changes
Beyond the health law, Trump also could push for some Republican perennials, such as giving states block grants to handle Medicaid, allowing insurers to sell across state lines and establishing a federal high-risk insurance pool for people who are ill and unable to get private insurance.But those options, too, would likely meet Democratic resistance, and it’s unclear where health will land on what could be a jam-packed White House agenda. (Rovner, 11/9)

Meanwhile, Politico looks at who may be the next HHS secretary —

Politico Pro: Meet Trump's Cabinet-In-Waiting
For Health and Human Services secretary, among the names receiving buzz: Florida Gov. Rick Scott, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Ben Carson, former GOP presidential candidate. Carson has received the most attention lately for HHS, even from Trump himself. (Cook and Restuccia, 11/9)

Stat: Big Pharma's Big Question: Is Trump Friend Or Foe?
Should President Donald Trump make drug makers relieved? Or anxious? They’re not sure. (Scott, 11/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Health-Care Stocks Emerge As Winners From Trump Vote
Health-care companies have emerged as the main gainers from Donald Trump’s win in the U.S. presidential election, despite a broad stock market selloff across the world. The U.S. premarket pointed to a 2% opening loss for the S&P 500 during early European trade, but futures on pharmaceuticals showed sharp rises, led by Endo International PLC, Mylan NV and Perrigo Co. PLC. The Stoxx Europe 600 index was down 0.5%, but the health-care and mining sectors notched 3.5% and 3% gains respectively. All other sectors were in the red. (Sindreu and Iosebashvili, 11/9)

Bloomberg: Drugmakers Jump As Republicans’ Victory Eases Regulatory Concern 
Health-care stocks surged in European and Asian trading as Republicans’ sweeping victory in the U.S. elections eased concerns that Democrats would require broader regulation and controls on drug prices in the world’s largest market for prescription drugs. Roche Holding AG, the world’s biggest maker of cancer drugs, gained 3 percent in Zurich, while France’s Sanofi climbed 2.8 percent in Paris. The Bloomberg EMEA Pharmaceutical Index jumped 3.7 percent, the most in almost two years, even as the the broader market slumped. Indian generic drugmakers, who sell to the U.S., also climbed. (Krege and Cordeiro, 11/8)

Meanwhile, the industry helped Sen. Richard Burr defeat his opponent —

Stat: The Drug Industry Sees A Key Ally In The Senate Prevail
A veteran senator and champion of the biotech sector beat back an unusually strong challenge Tuesday night — thanks in large part to loyal support from the industry. North Carolina Senator Richard Burr, a Republican who has long protected the bioscience companies that drive his state’s economy, overcame a surprisingly robust challenge from Democratic candidate Deborah K. Ross. (Kaplan, 11/8)

Stat: Prop. 61: Californians Say No To Lowering Drug Costs
California voters on Tuesday looked to be defeating a drug pricing control ballot proposition, a major victory for the pharmaceutical industry in its efforts to blunt attempts to drive down high drug prices if the trend holds as the rest of the votes are counted. Proposition 61 was losing with 54 percent of voters opposing it in preliminary results. The measure would have required some state health plans to reject drug prices that are higher than the discounted price the federal Department of Veterans Affairs pays. The change would have directly affected about 1 in 6 Californians. (Robbins, 11/9)

Reuters: California Drug Pricing Initiative Headed For Defeat
A California ballot initiative aimed at reining in rising prices for prescription drugs was headed for defeat on Tuesday after pharmaceutical companies spent more than $100 million to fight it.The California Drug Price Relief Act, also known as Proposition 61, sought to limit state health programs from paying more for medications than the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which receives the steepest discounts in the country. (Beasley, 11/9)

Associated Press: Prescription Drug Pricing Measure Trails In Early Returns
While only about 10 to 15 percent of California's 39 million residents would be affected by Proposition 61, supporters think passage would be a step toward broader price reductions elsewhere. Both sides recruited heavy-hitters for their causes. (Chang, 11/9)

Denver Post: Colorado Passes Medical Aid In Dying, Joining Five Other States
Colorado passed a medical aid in dying measure Tuesday that will allow adults suffering from terminal illness to take life-ending, doctor-prescribed sleeping medication. The ballot initiative passed overwhelmingly, by a two-thirds, one-third split, according to unofficial returns. Supporters claimed victory an hour after polls closed in Colorado. (Brown, 11/8)

The Associated Press: Colorado Becomes 5th State To OK 'Aid In Dying'
Proposition 106 requires that a mentally competent patient have a six-month prognosis and get two doctors to approve requests for life-ending medication. It requires doctors to discuss alternatives with the patient as well as safe storage, tracking and disposal of lethal drugs, recognizing that a patient can change his or her mind. (Anderson, 11/18)

Washington Examiner: Colorado Approves Doctor-Assisted Suicide
Advocates for physician-assisted suicide had focused their efforts on getting a ballot measure passed, after the issue failed to gain traction in the Colorado legislature last year and again this year. The national group Compassion and Choices was the effort's chief funder, spending several million dollars in support of the measure. Five other states already allow doctor-assisted suicide: California, Oregon, Washington, Montana and Vermont. (Cunningham, 11/8)

Denver Post: ColoradoCare Measure Amendment 69 Defeated Soundly
Amendment 69, the ballot measure known as ColoradoCare that would have created a universal health care system in Colorado, was soundly defeated Tuesday night. At 8:30 p.m., with nearly 1.8 million votes counted across the state, the amendment was trailing 79.6 percent to 20.4 percent, according to preliminary state figures. Throughout the campaign, the measure had polled better with Democrats than Republicans. But even in left-leaning Denver, the amendment was losing 2-to-1, according to early returns. (Ingold, 11/8)

Los Angeles Times: California Passes Proposition 52 To Make Medi-Cal Funding Program Permanent
Californians have chosen to make permanent the hospital fee program that helps fund Medi-Cal, the state's subsidized healthcare program for low-income residents. Early election returns show the measure passing with more than 70% of the vote. Proposition 52 will hobble state lawmakers' ability to change or end the hospital fee program. (Bollag, 11/8)

The Associated Press: Voters Approve Permanent Fee To Fund Medi-Cal 
California voters have approved Proposition 52, a ballot measure that makes permanent a fee on hospitals that helps fund Medi-Cal, the state’s health insurance plan for low income Californians. (11/9)

Oklahoma Daily: Oklahoma State Questions 780 And 781 Pass
Oklahoma State Questions 780 and 781 passed during the Nov. 8 general election. Set to become effective July 1, 2017, State Question 780 will diminish certain non-violent drug and theft-related crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, simultaneously changing their maximum penalty to one year in prison and a fine of $1,000.The changes are intended to save the state money by decreasing the number and duration of incarcerations. The companion bill, State Question 781, will then set forth a plan to distribute the savings to different counties for the purpose of supporting mental health and substance abuse services. (11/8)

KTVN: Nevada Voters Pass State Questions 1, 2, 3 & 4
Nevada voters have passed state ballot questions 1, 2, 3 and 4. ... Nevadans have passed a measure that will exempt medical equipment such as oxygen tanks and hospital beds from the state's sales tax. Voters gave their blessing to the Medical Patient Tax Relief Act, which is also called Question 4. It must pass a second statewide vote in 2018 before it can become a constitutional amendment. (11/9)

San Francisco Chronicle: Prop. 56: Voters Approve Cigarette Tax
California voters on Tuesday approved an increase in the state’s tobacco tax by $2 per pack of cigarettes. California’s tobacco tax is 87 cents per pack, and it has not been raised since 1999. Proposition 56 will raise the per-pack tax to $2.87. The measure also will impose tobacco taxes on vaping products for the first time, applying to e-cigarettes containing nicotine. (Gutierrez and Whiting, 11/9)

KQED News: Voters Approve $2 Tobacco Tax, But Remain Mixed On Other Health Measures
Voters made a clear choice on raising the price of cigarettes, but were more circumspect about regulating the pornography and pharmaceutical industries at the ballot box. (Dembosky, 11/9)

California Healthline: California Voters Pass Key Health Measures, Including Tobacco Tax Hike
Several health-related initiatives in California appeared headed for passage Tuesday, including a cigarette tax, legalization of recreational marijuana and additional funding for Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program. A measure intended to cap prescription drug prices, watched closely around the nation and strongly opposed by the pharmaceutical industry, was trailing. (Ibarra, 11/9)

Denver Post: Amendment 72: Colorado Tobacco Tax Fended Off By Voters
An amendment to the state constitution that would sharply raise the tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products was rejected Tuesday night by Colorado voters opposed to the measure aimed at reducing youth smoking and channeling the revenue to a variety of health programs. (Simpson, 11/8)

WDAY: North Dakota Voters Reject Tobacco Tax Hike Measure
North Dakota will remain among the states with the lowest taxes on tobacco products after voters denied a ballot measure Tuesday night. Initiated Statutory Measure 4, The North Dakota Tobacco Tax Increase Initiative, would have raised the tax on cigarettes to $2.20. (11/8)

Kansas City Star: Cigarette Taxes Losing, Voter ID And Parks Tax Winning In Missouri 
Missouri voters sorted through columns of potentially confusing statewide ballot issues Tuesday, and with 87 percent of precincts reporting, two taxes on tobacco were going down to defeat. But voters came out in favor of making Missouri a state that requires a photo ID to vote. (Robertson, 11/8)

The Boulder Daily Camera: Boulder Becomes Nation's Second To Vote In A Soda Tax
After the most expensive campaign this city has ever seen, Boulder voters made clear their support for the hotly contested ballot issue 2H, which will install a tax on distributors of soda and other sugary beverages. ... the passage of 2H means a 2-cents-per-fluid-ounce excise tax on distributors of beverages with at least 5 grams of added sugar per 12 ounces. The tax approved in Berkeley, plus the three Bay Area taxes on Tuesday's ballot, were all half as harsh, with just a penny-per-ounce levy. (Burness, 11/8)

East Bay Times: Soda Taxes In San Francisco And Oakland Could Spur National Movement
Oakland and San Francisco are poised to become the largest cities in the country to approve such a tax and open the door for other cities to replicate their campaigns. And in tiny Albany, voters resoundingly approved the tax. They will join Berkeley, which two years ago became the nation’s first city to pass a sugar-sweetened beverage tax. (Debolt, 11/9)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F., Oakland, Albany Voters Pass Soda Tax
Three Bay Area cities on Tuesday became among the first in the country to levy a tax on sodas and other sugary drinks in an effort to help stanch the nation’s diabetes and obesity epidemics. (Knight, 11/8)

KQED News: Soda Taxes Win In San Francisco, Oakland And Albany
San Francisco, Oakland and Albany voters have passed soda taxes in each city by a wide margin. San Francisco now becomes the largest city on the West Coast to approve a levy on distributors of sugar-sweetened beverages. (Romero, 11/9)

The Washington Post: Marijuana Wins Big On Election Night
Voters in California, Massachusetts and Nevada approved recreational marijuana initiatives Tuesday night, and several other states passed medical marijuana provisions, in what is turning out to be the biggest electoral victory for marijuana reform since 2012, when Colorado and Washington first approved the drug's recreational use. (Ingraham, 11/8)

NPR: In Ballot Measures, Pot Legalization Makes Strides
The legalization of marijuana continued to expand as several states voted to legalize recreational and medical marijuana.By a wide margin, California and Massachusetts voted to legalize recreational pot on Tuesday. Arkansas, North Dakota and Florida voted to legalize medical marijuana. (Peralta, 11/9)

Time: These States Just Legalized Marijuana
Marijuana was on the ballot in nine states on Tuesday: Voters in four states—Florida, Montana, North Dakota and Arkansas—were asked to cast their votes on medical marijuana initiatives, while voters in five others—California, Nevada, Arizona, Massachusetts and Maine—were asked whether adults 21 and older should be allowed to consume cannabis recreationally. (Steinmetz, 11/8)

The Sacramento Bee: Legal Marijuana Election Results For California
Twenty years after California voters made the Golden State the first in America to permit marijuana’s use as medicine, state voters on Tuesday night passed Proposition 64 to legalize pot for adult recreational use. (Hecht, 11/8)

Los Angeles Times: Voters Legalize Pot In California. Here's What Will Happen Next
Voters on Tuesday approved Proposition 64, an initiative that will make California the most populous state in the nation to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, setting state officials in motion to build a massive retail sales system to accommodate the new law. (McGreevy, 11/8)

Miami Herald: Florida Voters Approve Broad Use Of Medical Marijuana
Patients suffering from debilitating illnesses will soon have access to medical marijuana in Florida after voters approved Amendment 2 Tuesday. By 8:30 p.m. it was clear that Amendment 2 would pass with well above the required 60 percent threshold. The amendment inserts language into the Florida Constitution allowing those with cancer, HIV/AIDS, epilepsy and a host of other conditions to use marijuana if it is recommended by their doctor. (Auslen, 11/8)

Tampa Bay Times: Florida Overwhelmingly Votes To Legalize Medical Marijuana
Patients suffering from debilitating illnesses will soon have access to medical marijuana in Florida after voters approved Amendment 2 Tuesday. (Auslen, 11/8)

Stat: Walgreens Sues Theranos After Blood Testing Partnership Falters
Pharmacy giant Walgreens has filed a lawsuit against former partner Theranos, the embattled blood-testing company whose fortunes have plummeted among allegations of fraud. Walgreens filed its lawsuit under seal in Delaware, accusing Theranos of breach of contract. Walgreens is seeking $140 million in the suit, according to the Wall Street Journal. In a statement, Theranos said it will “respond vigorously to Walgreens’ unfounded accusations.” (Garde, 11/8)

The Associated Press: Walgreens Sues Theranos Alleging Breach Of Contract
Walgreens has sued its former partner, blood-testing startup Theranos Inc., alleging breach of contract. The unit of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. is seeking $140 million, the amount it invested in Theranos, according to The Wall Street Journal. (Johnson 11/8)

Reuters: Walgreens Sues Theranos For Breach Of Contract, Seeks $140 Million
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc sued Theranos Inc on Tuesday, seeking $140 million in damages while accusing its onetime lab-testing partner of breaching a contract, according to court records. The company's Walgreen Co unit filed the lawsuit in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, five months after the drugstore chain announced it was ending its relationship with Theranos. (Raymond, 11/8)

The Washington Post: These Researchers Think They Have A Solution To The Global Crisis In Drug Prices
Jerome Zeldis remembers exactly how he felt when he heard about the $84,000 price tag on a powerful new hepatitis C treatment three years ago. "I was somewhere between annoyed and outraged,” recalled Zeldis, the former chief medical officer of the biotech juggernaut Celgene. The cost of a 12-week course of Gilead Sciences' drug Sovaldi triggered fierce pushback from insurers, politicians and the public, and helped spark a national debate on high drug prices. (Johnson, 11/3)

Stat: CMS Official Says Drug Costs Are 'Unsustainable' And There Are 'Too Many' Bad Actors
In case the pharmaceutical industry is unclear what some federal officials think about drug prices, Andy Slavitt has offered a pointed and sobering reminder. In remarks before the BioPharma Congress, an industry conference that was held last Thursday, the acting administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services slammed drug makers — all of them. “Cost increases are pervasive,” he lamented. “Despite all the attention it has generated this year, Mylan’s Epipen is not even on our top 20 list for either high price increases or spending overall in 2015. Many of these have been ongoing for a while with real patient impact, and some are big stories waiting to happen.” (Silverman, 11/7)

Bloomberg: CVS Says Slowing Prescriptions Will Hurt Profits Next Year 
CVS Health Corp.’s earnings forecasts for 2016 and 2017 came in below analysts’ estimates as the company said its drugstores will lose millions of prescriptions, sending the shares plunging Tuesday to their biggest daily loss in seven years. CVS expects to lose more than 40 million retail prescriptions annually as the military’s Tricare health insurance program and Prime Therapeutics, which manages drug benefits for many states’ Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, will exclude CVS from pharmacy networks, Chief Executive Officer Larry Merlo said on a quarterly conference call. The shares skidded 12 percent, the most since November 2009, to $73.53 at 4 p.m. in New York. (Langreth, 11/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Valeant Shares Plunge As It Slashes Guidance Again
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. cut its annual forecast again Tuesday as the drug company, struggling to remake its business after a series of missteps, signaled its turnaround may take longer than expected. In 4 p.m. trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange, the company’s shares were down 22% at $14.98. (Steele and Rockoff, 11/8)

The Washington Post: The Bizarre Reason Two Competing Drug Prices Rose In Tandem
In 1998, the drug company Amgen launched a transformative arthritis treatment called Enbrel. At the end of 2002, federal regulators approved a similar drug called Humira. The drugs work in fundamentally the same way. They are approved for many of the same ailments. They have been hugely valuable to patients — and big drivers of profits for the two pharmaceutical companies that make them. Humira brought in $14 billion last year for AbbVie. Enbrel was the top moneymaker for Amgen, with $5.4 billion in revenue. (Johnson, 11/7)

The New York Times: Comparing Medicare Prescription Drug Plans
People covered by Medicare have a few more weeks to change their prescription drug plans, during the program’s annual open enrollment period. Much attention has been paid to Affordable Care Act coverage, because the annual sign-up period for plans sold on government marketplaces began this week. But Medicare, the federal health insurance program for people 65 and older and for the disabled, has its own annual enrollment period, which started Oct. 15 and ends on Dec. 7. (Carrns, 11/2)

Stat: FDA To Hold Two-Day Meeting On Off-Label Drug Marketing
After years of anticipation, the Food and Drug Administration will hold a public, two-day meeting starting on Wednesday to review the extent to which so-called off-label information about medicines may be disseminated to physicians. Nothing will get decided, though. The meeting is designed simply to give the public — drug makers and patient advocates alike — a long-awaited chance to convey their opinions and debate the issue. (Silverman, 11/8)

Stat: FDA Warns Valeant Over Production Problems Caused By Acquisitions
As if Joe Papa doesn’t have enough problems. The Valeant Pharmaceuticals chief executive is grappling with numerous government probes into the company’s accounting and pricing practices; its business strategy is in turmoil; assets are being sold to ward off bondholders and its stock is tanking, again. (Silverman, 11/8)

The Fiscal Times: Will The US Government Step In To Regulate Drug Prices? 
With federal prosecutors investigating the generic drug industry for alleged price fixing, speculation that Congress will step in next year to find ways to contain soaring prescription drug prices is more than a rumor. They could also crack down on unscrupulous marketing tactics that have gouged consumers, health insurers and government agencies. (Pianin, 11/4)

Reuters: Buyers Clubs For Cheaper Drugs Help Fight Hepatitis And HIV
Frustrated by the high price of antiviral drugs, thousands of patients from London to Moscow to Sydney are turning to a new wave of online "buyers clubs" to get cheap generic medicines to cure hepatitis C and protect against HIV infection. While regulators warn that buying drugs online is risky, scientific data presented at a recent medical conference suggest that treatment arranged through buyers club can be just as effective as through conventional channels. (11/7)

The New York Times: Brexit Threatens Supply Of New Drugs, Report Warns
British patients could end up not being able to access modern medicines if there is a "hard Brexit", a think tank report endorsed by a former Conservative health minister warned on Wednesday. Drugmakers currently use the European Medicines Agency as a one-stop-shop to get drugs licensed across Europe, but Britain is likely to drop out of that system if it severs EU ties and leaves the single market in a scenario dubbed "hard Brexit." (Hirschler, 11/2)

New Hampshire Union Leader: Prescription Drugs Driving Health Care Costs In NH
Skyrocketing prescription drug prices are the major driver of increased health-care costs in New Hampshire, according to data for 2015 presented by the state Insurance Department at its annual meeting. More than $1 billion was spent on prescription drugs by patients and insurance companies in the state last year, with 15 scripts per person on average, according to Insurance Commissioner Roger Sevigny, who introduced the presenters at Friday’s day-long presentation. The cost of in-patient services in the state declined by 4.9 percent from 2014 to 2015, but the cost of prescription drugs rose 8.7 percent in the same period. Insurance companies are predicting that 2016 will see a 14 percent increase. (Solomon, 11/4)

Reuters: U.S. Watchdog Told Medicare, Medicaid That EpiPen Was Misclassified In 2009: Senator
The internal watchdog at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services warned the office tasked with administering federal health insurance programs that Mylan NV's EpiPen was improperly classified as a generic drug in 2009, Senator Charles Grassley said on Tuesday. (Lynch, 11/8)

Bloomberg: US Government Was Informed Of EpiPen Overcharging In 2009
Grassley, an Iowa Republican, asked the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general to hand over records related to its notification seven years ago that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services was overpaying for the allergy shot. “It appears the EpiPen was misclassified for years, and CMS was notified of the problem,” Grassley said in a statement Tuesday. “If no one did anything about the misclassification, why not? This could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer over-payments occurred without justification.” (Edney, 11/8)

Forbes: Don't Blame Mylan For High Drug Prices
At first glance, Mylan looks like the perfect poster child for a media maelstrom. The pharmaceutical company raised the price of its signature EpiPen, largely used by children with anaphylaxis, to over $600 recently from $100 in 2007. However, when looking at the issue more closely, a warped insurance system and government intervention in the health industry are the main villains of the EpiPen saga. (Max Jacobs, 11/7)

Modern Healthcare: Drug Marketing Veers Off-Label
The Food and Drug Administration is considering dramatic changes to its drug marketing rules that threaten to make the problem of already out-of-control drug spending even worse. The agency is responding to the drug industry's demands for greater freedom to promote the off-label use of prescription drugs and to the courts' drift toward giving corporations unlimited freedom-of-speech rights. “Off-label” refers to uses that have never received approval or scrutiny from the FDA's regulatory scientists. Doctors are allowed to prescribe off-label. (Merrill Goozner, 11/5)

RealClear Health: The Drug Pricing Conundrum Explained
Of all the health policy issues that have been discussed in recent months, few have triggered as much interest as the pricing of prescription drugs. To complicate the discussion, there are a number of misconceptions surrounding the issue of how cures are priced; and, unfortunately, too little attention paid to the role that a competitive marketplace plays in driving down the cost of these cures over time. (Lanhee J. Chen, 11/4)

Scientific American: How To Bring Down Drug Prices Post-Election
Martin Shkreli. Valeant Pharmaceuticals. Mylan. These names have become big news, but just a year ago, most Americans devoted little time and attention to the question of pharmaceutical pricing. Now, a Kaiser Health Tracking Poll released Oct. 27 suggests many people care more about the increasing prices of drugs than they do about any other aspect of health care reform. (Rachel Sachs, 11/2)

Modern Healthcare: An Election That Will Transform Healthcare
Everything changed Tuesday night. Everything that the leaders and clinicians who manage the nation's $3 trillion healthcare system thought they knew is now called into question. Universal health insurance? Gone. Moving from fee-for-service medicine to value-based care? On hold. More affordable care for average Americans? A chimera. (Merrill Goozner, 11/9)

Los Angeles Times: Pot's Legal In California. Now What?
California voters legalized marijuana on Tuesday, but don’t light up or open a pot business just yet. There’s a lot more work to be done. Californians overwhelmingly backed Proposition 64, which allows adults to possess and smoke up to an ounce of marijuana. And the Golden State may not have been alone in easing its cannabis ban. Several other states were expected to vote to legalize recreational pot on Tuesday. This election marks a major victory for advocates of legalization, who have argued that marijuana prohibition has helped sustain a costly war on drugs that targeted marginalized communities and empowered violent drug cartels, yet did little to curb usage. (11/8)

The Hill: Is There A Silver Lining To The ObamaCare Blues? 
The nightly news shows have been filled with dire reports from state after state about the ObamaCare exchanges' exploding premiums. The result is that so many relying on what was once promised as "affordable" insurance are now forced to choose between their family's health and rapidly diminishing disposable income. It is depressing.The country officially has the ObamaCare Blues. This comes at a time when we've become an undeniably depressed people. Today, 11 percent of the American population regularly takes an antidepressant. The amount has increased by 400 percent in recent years. (Bryan Rotella, 11/8)

Fortune: Why Valeant Can't "Dig Out of That Hole" Fast Enough
Scheduling its earnings report on Election Day was already a signal that Valeant Pharmaceuticals didn’t have great news to share. But the troubled drug company managed to disappoint investors anyway. Valeant stock plunged 22% as the drugmaker slashed its guidance for the rest of 2016, even with less than two months left in the year. (Jen Wieczner, 11/8)

The Health Care Blog: Death And Readmissions
Eugene’s wife is on the phone. She has been taking care of Eugene for 41 years. I supposedly take care of his heart, weakened by two prior heart attacks. I say supposedly because his wife does all the heavy lifting. She makes sure he takes his medications when he should. She watches his weight every day and occasionally administers an extra dose of diuretic when his weight climbs more than a few pounds in a day. And perhaps most importantly, she calls me when Eugene’s in the hospital and things seem wrong to her. This is one of those phone calls. They were in the ER, Eugene hadn’t been responding to his diuretic as he normally does, and his breathing seemed more labored to her. The ER physician wanted to send them home – she was hoping I would weigh in. Not surprisingly, she was right, Eugene needed to come into the hospital. I used to be surprised when the ER wouldn’t call me for complex cardiac patient having an acute cardiac problem. Not any more. (Anish Koka, 11/8)

The Columbus Dispatch: Painkillers Led To More Pain
The tale of a Mount Vernon police detective sentenced Thursday to six years in prison tragically captures the wreckage caused by prescription-painkiller addiction. Matthew L. Dailey, 45, had a good wife — she saved his life by getting him into treatment — a good job as a sergeant in charge of detectives and the evidence room, and the respect of his community. Even a police informant, whom Dailey turned to obtain oxycodone after his prescription ran out, once considered him a “good role model.” (11/9)

The Hill: When You’re Out Of Options, You’ll Need Right To Try 
Right to Try laws aren’t meant to provide access to all drugs for all patients. The laws aim to help the very sickest patients by giving them access to medicines that have successfully navigated an FDA safety trial, and are still in the FDA ongoing trial and review process. The point of the law is to help people who have run out of options. Patients who haven’t yet run out of options, still have potential avenues to be helped. (I. Richard Garr, 11/8)

The Hill: Funding For Psychiatric Drugs Growing Scarce 
The days when we could look into the pipeline and see promising new drugs like Prozac, Zyprexa and Abilify offering new hope for these vulnerable patients are long gone. One reason is that all of these multibillion-dollar medications — $3B, $5B and $7.4B, respectively — are now generic. It is very difficult for Big Pharma to develop new drugs that are significantly different from these now generic blockbuster drugs. And if a new drug is not seen as a significant improvement, insurers are likely to restrict paying for them. (Robert Besthof, 11/8)

Louisville Courier-Journal: 'Don't Rush To Failure' To Build VA
During my 29 years in the Army, I often heard -- and even used -- the saying, “Do not rush to failure.” I believe that is what we are doing by continuing with the planned relocation of the Robley Rex Veterans Administration Medical Center to Brownsboro Road. The Veterans Administration bought the proposed site in 2012 for $12.9 million before conducting a full impact assessment. This should give us pause to consider the legitimacy of the decision in the first place. Wasteful government spending that contributes to our national debt is one of the greatest threats to our national security. We must hold the VA and our leaders accountable. We must demand an answer to why the determination was made without following standard protocols, especially before we commit up to $1 billion for the construction of the hospital. (Fred Johnson, 11/8)