Latest KFF Health News Stories
Podcast: ‘What The Health?’ Why Is It So Difficult To Control Drug Prices?
In this episode of “What the Health?” Mary Agnes Carey of Kaiser Health News, Sarah Karlin-Smith of Politico, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Julie Appleby of Kaiser Health News discuss the recent extension of cost-sharing subsidies for millions of low-income beneficiaries on the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces and the state of play on Capitol Hill and in the states concerning initiatives to lower prescription drug costs.
Climbing Cost Of Decades-Old Drugs Threatens To Break Medicaid Bank
Medicaid spent billions more in 2016 than the year before on decades-old prescription drugs, including many generics, a Kaiser Health News data analysis shows.
Hospitals Slashed Use Of Two Heart Drugs After Huge Price Hikes
Hospital use of two popular heart medicines, nitroprusside and isoproterenol, dramatically dropped after the prices for both soared.
Taking A U-Turn On Benefits, Big Employers Vow To Continue Offering Health Insurance
Three years ago, only about a quarter of the nation’s large employers were very confident they would have a health plan in 10 years. That number has now risen to 65 percent.
Denial, Appeal, Approval … An Adult’s Thorny Path To Spinraza Coverage
The FDA granted approval for Spinraza in late December for use on children and adults with spinal muscular atrophy. Insurance coverage is mostly focused on infants and children.
Drug Puts A $750,000 ‘Price Tag On Life’
The high cost of Spinraza, a new and promising treatment for spinal muscular atrophy, highlights how the cost-benefit analysis insurers use to make drug coverage decisions plays out in human terms.
Follow The Money: Drugmakers Deploy Political Cash As Prices And Anger Mount
Embattled opioid seller Mallinckrodt is one of many pharmaceutical companies boosting political contributions and lobbying on Capitol Hill.
Whichever Way ‘Repeal And Replace’ Blows, Pharma Is Due For Windfall
A little-noticed provision in President Donald Trump’s executive order on drug prices may offer a clue to why Big Pharma hasn’t opposed a bill that could bleed their balance sheets of millions of patients.
Exclusive: White House Task Force Echoes Pharma Proposals
Documents examined by Kaiser Health News shed light on the workings of the Trump administration’s “Drug Pricing and Innovation Working Group.”
Former Pharma Reps’ New Mission: To School Docs On High Drug Costs
One insurer is turning the tables on drugmakers with what may be a new job category: a sales force for cost-effective medicine.
Daylight On Diabetes Drugs: Nevada Bill Would Track Insulin Makers’ Profits
With the cost of medications up 300 percent in the past decade, supporters see this as a first step to rein in prices.
Drug Rebates Reward Industry Players — And Often Hurt Patients
A new JAMA study examines how drug rebates can direct money to middlemen and force Medicare patients to cough up more money.
New York State Wants Its Prescription Drug Money Back — Or Else
A new law gives Medicaid regulators power to threaten drugmakers with cost-effectiveness scrutiny unless they grant additional rebates.
Louisiana Proposes Tapping A Federal Law To Slash Hepatitis C Drug Prices
Several public health officials endorse using a federal law to slash hepatitis C drug prices in Louisiana and avoid drug bills that could cripple the state budget.
Negotiating Drug Prices: Should State Agencies Band Together?
A California lawmaker wants to strengthen collaboration among public agencies to bring down costs to taxpayers.
Drugmakers Dramatically Boosted Lobbying Spending In Trump’s First Quarter
With high drug prices creating widespread controversy, top pharmaceutical companies and their trade group vastly increased their lobbying spending on Capitol Hill.
Marathon Pharmaceutical Drops Out Of PhRMA Following Drug Price Controversy
Two companies that faced criticism for high-priced drugs, Marathon and Mallinckrodt, have dropped out of the PhRMA trade association.
Nonprofit Linked To PhRMA Rolls Out Campaign To Block Drug Imports
The advocacy group behind an expensive media blitz opposing Canadian drug imports has deep ties to the drug industry’s largest trade group.
Kids With Hepatitis C Get New Drugs And Coverage May Prove Easier Than For Adults
The drugs, approved by the FDA for children earlier this month, can run $100,000 for a course of treatment.
California Presses Forward In Fight To Regulate Pharma
Such efforts have previously failed in the face of opposition from the drug industry, which questions their effectiveness and contends prices reflect research and development costs.
