Galen Senior Fellow Brian Blase looks to the future in a new paper describing a medical innovation that can improve health care productivity—largely through more accurate, timely, and affordable diagnoses—and expand access to care by more efficiently deploying specialists’ time and making tests less expensive. In a new analysis, “Properly Incentivizing Health Care Innovation & A Case Study … [Read more...] about Medicare Blocks Innovation—Brian Blase research
Innovation
Responding to the Coronavirus Crisis and Building a Stronger Health Sector for the Future
An open letter to the American people from 83 participants in the Health Policy Consensus Group and other health care leaders The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the need for flexibility in our health sector and for public officials to do more to empower medical professionals and health care innovators to provide the care and coverage people want and need. Those goals must guide our … [Read more...] about Responding to the Coronavirus Crisis and Building a Stronger Health Sector for the Future
The Costs of Government’s Benevolent Coercion
Critics cried sabotage when political leaders took action to repair some of the damage done by the Affordable Care Act. They saw sinister motives behind the decision by the last Congress to repeal the individual mandate and in Trump administration regulations that made more affordable health insurance options available to individuals and small groups. But a new study by the … [Read more...] about The Costs of Government’s Benevolent Coercion
Amgen Announces Major Price Cut For Its Breakthrough Cholesterol Drug
By Grace-Marie Turner— The Trump administration continues to work overtime to lower prescription drug costs for consumers. In response, some pharmaceutical companies have announced rollbacks of price increases, cuts in prices, price freezes, or other ways to improve affordability for patients. In the latest example, Amgen, a leading biologics company, is stepping forward to bring down prices … [Read more...] about Amgen Announces Major Price Cut For Its Breakthrough Cholesterol Drug
House Repeal and Replace Bill Contains Important Conservative Reforms
Voting against “repeal” could be the death knell for Republicans in 2018 The American Health Care Act is taking fire from all sides, not the least from the circular firing squad conservatives have formed, threatening passage of the only piece of repeal and replace legislation that House leaders say will be presented to members for a vote this year. President Trump has made it clear to Congress … [Read more...] about House Repeal and Replace Bill Contains Important Conservative Reforms
More Competition is the Best Cure
The most interesting thing about the PR disaster involving Mylan’s life-saving EpiPen is probably the least discussed—namely that drugs don’t cost what people think they do. Faced with a barrage of criticism for EpiPen price hikes, from about $100 in 2009 to more than $600 today, Mylan’s CEO Heather Bresch explains that her company gets less than half of the list price and that the remaining … [Read more...] about More Competition is the Best Cure
Shock Your Doctor: Ditch Insurance And Pay In Cash
So a man walks his wife up to the receptionist’s desk at a surgery center to check her in for a minor invasive procedure. A smiling twenty-something woman in purple scrubs greets them. She chirps a handful of questions to make sure the wife’s file is current. As she scrolls down on her oversized computer monitor to verify the wife’s insurance information, the couple waits for the penny to … [Read more...] about Shock Your Doctor: Ditch Insurance And Pay In Cash
How Uber Will Redefine Healthcare
My Twitter pal and founding partner of Forthright Health Management, Tom Valenti, wrote in TechCrunch that “there will never be an Uber for healthcare” because “[h]ealthcare is not a transaction business; it is a relationship business.” I’ll respectfully disagree: Healthcare “Ubers” are already proliferating and will ultimately reshape 21st-century medicine. The more aspects of healthcare … [Read more...] about How Uber Will Redefine Healthcare