policy and politics

Health Wonk Review at the Health Business Blog: July 24, 2008

Welcome to the latest edition of the Health Wonk Review at the Health Business Blog. Bitter pillsPyrrhic victory. Expansion of the Americans with Disabilities Act has coincided with a decline in...

Conde Nast Portfolio shines a light on Questcor

Writing for Conde Nast’s Portfolio.com (Drug Money), Russ Mitchell tells the story of Questcor’s almost 20-fold boost in the price of H.P. Achtar Gel, a treatment for infantile spasms....

Locking out lock-in pricing

In Medicare Moves To Limit Costs In Drug Plans the Wall Street Journal discusses “lock-in pricing,” whereby Medicare agrees to pay pharmaceutical benefit managers (PBMs) a fixed priced...

If only it were true

This one is from Media Matters: On his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage claimed that autism was “[a] fraud, a racket. … I’ll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent...

Wiki discusses alternatives to ACTH for infantile spasms

As reported here last year (Abusing the orphan drug law to rip off customers), Questcor Pharmaceuticals has jacked up the price of ACTH –a treatment for infantile spasms– by a factor of...

The Medicare monster

If things keep going the way they are, Medicare is going to gobble us up. It’s bad enough that the direct costs of the roughly $500 billion program keep growing quickly (thanks in part to...

Another double digit premium increase. Wal-Mart, can you help me?

It’s that time of year again: when Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts sends the annual health insurance renewal notice for my boutique health care consulting firm. This year’s...

Death wish, aka medical helicopters

In Medical Helicopter Crashes Stir Concern the New York Times raises doubts about the safety of air ambulances, and suggests that for-profit companies, especially publicly traded ones, may be a key...

Kaiser posts Viewpoints: The Health Care Debate

From the Kaiser Family Foundation: Viewpoints: The Health Care Debate, features interviews with leaders of organizations representing health care providers, insurers, policymakers, employers, labor...

Do we really need mystery shoppers in health care?

I was a little bit shocked by this AP item in the San Franscisco Chronicle (AMA to consider endorsing undercover patients) Lori Erickson-Trump has faked headaches and back pain. She’s had...