By Grace-Marie Turner | RealClearHealth | April 28, 2021 The debate over expanding government control of our health sector should have ended during the Covid-19 pandemic: Where there have been failures in responding to the crisis, it has been a failure of big government—such as the Center for Disease Control’s arrogant and clumsy insistence on controlling early development of testing … [Read more...] about The High Cost of Drug Price Controls
Prescription Drugs
Double-dippers drive up drug costs
In searching for answers to why drug costs are high, we only need look at problems our own government has created. One of the biggest culprits distorting prices is the once obscure “340B Drug Pricing Program.” Created in 1992, it requires drugmakers to offer steep discounts to certain safety net clinics and hospitals to help them “stretch scarce federal resources.” The original intent was to … [Read more...] about Double-dippers drive up drug costs
Trump Doesn’t Need Price Controls to Lower Prescription Drug Costs
By making full use of his executive authority, President Donald Trump has helped to reduce health care costs by increasing choice and competition. But his recent executive order to base Medicare drug prices on rates set by foreign governments is a misstep. Instead of importing price controls, the Trump administration should pursue bipartisan Medicare reforms that would cap seniors’ … [Read more...] about Trump Doesn’t Need Price Controls to Lower Prescription Drug Costs
Budget Deal Landmines
Published on FORBES.com | The Trump administration and the Congress reportedly are close to a budget deal that would increase federal spending and also suspend the debt limit for two years. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is personally engaged in the talks in an effort to reach a deal before the Congress leaves town for its August recess. As a sweetener, she says she will … [Read more...] about Budget Deal Landmines
HHS Marches Forward To Enhance Drug Price Transparency
Published on FORBES.com | HHS Secretary Alex Azar has been almost singularly focused in delivering on the administration’s promises to increase transparency and lower prescription drug prices since President Trump released his American Patients First blueprint in a Rose Garden ceremony a year ago. The blueprint offered nearly 30 policy recommendations to modernize … [Read more...] about HHS Marches Forward To Enhance Drug Price Transparency
GOP May Outflank Bernie on Drug Price Controls
Published on RealClearHealth.com | It wasn’t so long ago that Bernie Sanders (I-VT) comfortably occupied the left flank of health care policy. His Medicare For All bill was sufficiently costly, coercive and utopian to set him apart from the pack. Times have changed. When it comes to drug pricing, Bernie faces unexpected intruders on his left: Republicans. In recent months, Bernie … [Read more...] about GOP May Outflank Bernie on Drug Price Controls
Trump Blames the Wrong Government for High Drug Prices
Published on RealClearHealth.com | Medicare-for-All enthusiasts gaze wistfully at government-run health care systems abroad and see much to admire. When it comes to drug prices, the Trump administration seems to share that admiration. The Department of Health and Human Services is preparing to launch a massive demonstration program that would link Medicare reimbursement for … [Read more...] about Trump Blames the Wrong Government for High Drug Prices
A Closer Look At The Drug Rebate Proposal
Last fall, I wrote in Forbes about U.S. based biotechnology manufacturer Amgen announcing it was slashing the list price of its breakthrough cholesterol-lowering drug Repatha by 60% in an effort to improve access and affordability for patients. Too many patients who had been prescribed the drug were walking away from the pharmacy empty handed because of sticker shock over … [Read more...] about A Closer Look At The Drug Rebate Proposal