Attention Economy


Friday, August 5, 2022

Will Big Pharma Once Again Derail Measures to Lower Drug Costs?

Republicans block cap on insulin costs for millions of patients
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/07/insulin-cap-budget-congress/

Democrats’ Long-Sought Plan for Lowering Drug Costs Is at Hand
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/05/us/politics/medicare-drug-costs.html
Empowering Medicare to negotiate prices directly with drug makers has been a Democratic goal for 30 years, one the pharmaceutical industry has fought ferociously.
 
My take: 
Health care and higher education: Key drivers of long-term inflation by Vivekanand Jayakumar | The Hill, 01/31/22
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/591995-health-care-and-higher-education-key-drivers-of-long-term-inflation/
There is a role for well-thought-out fiscal interventions to boost efficiency and competition in the health care sector. Reforming the U.S. patent system and making the federal government a more effective negotiator that can leverage its role as a large-scale purchaser to attain lower pharmaceutical drug prices are low hanging fruit that can be plucked with bipartisan support if the Big Pharma lobby can be kept at bay. 

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