Author Archive

Trump Disembowels Obamacare… Slowly and Painfully

InsFormSmallOn the day of his inauguration, President Trump took time out to issue an executive order directing his administration to drag its feet enforcing provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). Regulators were instructed to “waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay…” whenever possible to the “maximum extent of the law.” Many believe this move was intended to destabilize the ACA and hasten its demise without Republicans getting blamed.

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Jan 24, 2017 | 94 comments | by

Advice to Trump: Leave Medicare Drug Prices to the Free Market

President-elect Donald Trump has bashed drug prices on numerous occasions. During his campaign, he championed the idea of having the government directly negotiate the price of Medicare drugs for Part D drug plans. Trump seemingly dropped the idea later in his campaign only to resurrect it again mid-January. Many Democrats also believe the government could secure a lower price for the drugs Medicare reimburses on seniors’ behalf. However, Republicans have long opposed the idea of government meddling in private markets and codified a non-interference clause in the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003.

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Jan 18, 2017 | 4 comments | by

Congress Should Take Steps to Make Drugs More Affordable

gencompAs Republicans squabble about how to repeal & replace Obamacare, lost in the debate is the way most Americans actually access our health care system. In any given year, most people don’t ride in the back of an ambulance heading to the ER. Nor do they convalesce in a hospital bed. Most of the medical care Americans receive is not even provided in doctors’ offices. The most common way Americans access our health care system is by taking a pill.

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Jan 09, 2017 | 3 comments | by

The Health Care Costs Quandary: What Can Be Done About It?

yuI recently attended a roundtable discussion that included Human Resource (HR) executives, chief financial officers (CFOs), benefits brokers, consultants and providers who discussed ways self-insured employer plans can lower their health care costs. The meeting was hosted by a state-of-the-art hospital that is part of a small chain of medical facilities, including emergency rooms, imagine, clinics, orthopedic hospitals.

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Dec 19, 2016 | 14 comments | by

FDA Backs Selling Hearing Aids Over the Counter

UntitledghgThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just announced it is taking steps to make hearing aids available over the counter. The FDA plans to immediately stop enforcing a requirement that patients must have a medical evaluation prior to obtaining a hearing aid. The Agency also hopes its move will stimulate a new category of OTC hearing aid products that cost less.  In this regard, hearing aids will function in a manner similar to reading glasses. The move was likely due to prodding by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who recently introduced legislation along these lines.

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Dec 08, 2016 | Leave a Comment | by

Obamacare IS Socialized Medicine!

Caduceus with First-aid KitHave you ever stopped and considered why the government wants you to have health insurance? The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was supposedly designed to make health care affordable for millions of individuals who could otherwise not afford health coverage or would choose not to enroll due to costs. Worse yet, the ACA was designed to make medical care “affordable” for many individuals by foisting the costs on others who are not at risk of health problems. Obamacare was premised on the idea that benefits one person would never expect to use should be subsidized for others who may need them. That is the very definition of socialized medicine!

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Dec 05, 2016 | 63 comments | by

Lack of Transparency (and Bribes) Nearly Allowed Hospital to Commit Highway Robbery

googlemapsNear my old office just off U.S. Highway 75 in Dallas sits a hospital that was originally built by physicians. It is close to a hospital medical district, known as Medical City. Forest Park Medical Center was part of a small chain of investor-owned, for-profit hospitals. They are now bankrupt and have been sold off to bigger hospital systems.

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Dec 02, 2016 | 8 comments | by

Rational Drug Prices Require Rational FDA Regulations

The House has passed and the Senate is expected to pass the pork barrel-bloated, 21st Century Cures Act. Aside from $6 billion worth of pork, the Cures Act would reform the drug approval process at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A rational path to drug discovery is badly needed. Once a drug finally makes it through the regulatory process to approval, it is guaranteed years of monopoly pricing due to the plethora of regulatory barriers that inhibit competition.

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Dec 02, 2016 | Leave a Comment | by

Opioid Mouth Spray Costs 200 Times More than Patch

become-richThe drug fentanyl — which is up to 50 times stronger than heroin — is available in generic form. It is also a highly addictive street drug, manufactured in back-alley labs and laced in heroin to boost its potency. Fentanyl is used to treat extreme chronic pain that is unresponsive to other opioid pain relievers, such as breakthrough pain cancer patients often suffer. A fentanyl transdermal patch costs from $5 to $12 depending on the dose per hour. A 12 micrograms (mcg) per hour patch retails for about $5 and offers 72 hours of pain relief, whereas the 100 microgram per hour patch is about $12 with GoodRx coupon. Sounds like a bargain; pain-free bliss for $2 to $4 a day. That works out to about $50 to $125 per month.

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Nov 23, 2016 | Leave a Comment | by

What Will TrumpCare Look Like?

Five people waiting in waiting roomPresident-elect Donald Trump made repealing Obamacare the cornerstone of his campaign. Now that he has won, his future administration is faced with the daunting task of unraveling nearly seven years of Obamacare.  It will not be easy. The most pressing goal should be to replace all the costly provisions in Obamacare with the consumer-friendly health plans most Americans prefer. In the process, reformers must change the way medical care is financed so that consumers have control over their health care dollars as well as the means to pay for medical care over their lifetimes.

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Nov 21, 2016 | 12 comments | by
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