A New Bargain for Drug Approvals - But for the Wrong Reason

The Wall Street Journal recently ran an op-ed by Professors Michelle Boldrin and S. Joshua Swamidass that proposed "A New Bargain for Drug Approvals" (July 25).  They recommended that the Food and Drug Administration allow new medicines to be used after they had been demonstrated "safe," but not necessarilly "efficacious."  I liked the article, and agree that the reform which they recommend would be very beneficial. However, I have a philosophical problem with one of their reasons.

Why the Utah Health Exchange is No Model for Health Reform

The Utah Health Exchange is the model some conservatives believe can be used to push back against Obamacare. Witness the Wall Street Journal (July 16) soundly rejecting regulatory guidance on what the Administration is now calling "Affordable Insurance Exchanges," but encouraging governors to get on the exchange bandwagon, in the hope they can build free-market exchanges that will blunt Obamacare's worst effects.

80% of Employers Concerned About Health Reform’s Administrative Obligations; 30% Think Exchanges Will Offer Worse Coverage

A new survey by Lockton, Inc.’s Health Reform Advisory Practice reports that 80 percent of respondents are concerned about federal health reform’s additional administrative obligations.

Read my entire article at Forbes.com: The Apothecary.

The U.S. Government Will Like the Express Scripts-Medco Takeover

Medco traded at a ten percent discount to the deal terms all day Thursday, reflecting skepticism that the U.S. government will let the deal happen. I don't see why. The government favors concentration in the health sector.

Read my latest column at Forbes.com: The Apothecary.

PPACA's Raid on the Medicine Cabinet

There has been a lot of discussion of the Independent Payments Advisory Board (IPAB) lately, including pretty heated testimony at the House of Representative Energy & Commerce committee in the last few days.

IPAB is the primary vehicle whereby the Paient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) will deny new medicines to Medicare beneficaries, in a futile attempt to contain costs.
The Washington Times ran my column on IPAB.  Read the entire article here.

Health Benefit Exchanges: Regulations Versus Reality

Although Ohio governor John Kasich apparently deludes himself into believing that he can take federal grant money to establish a Health Benefits Exchange, but then somehow design an exchange that does not comply with Obamacare's regulations, most other governors have a more realistic perspective.

That is why the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' recent release of 347 pages of regulatory guidance on exchanges is both exasperating and probably futile.  My analysis concludes that only about one third of Americans will be living in states that have imposed exchanges by the law's deadline.

Read the entire analysis in this month's Health Policy Prescription.

UnitedHealth Group's Earnings Call

I participated in UnitedHealth Group's earnings call today.  My conclusions:

• Optum will continue to make well focused acquisitions;
• UNH will continue to keep quiet about its lobbying efforts to shape the post-PPACA landscape;
• Public budget crises will make the Medicaid managed-care business look much less attractive than it has been; and
• UNH and (most) Wall Street analysts continue to ignore the likelihood of PPACA’s defeat, either through the Supreme Court or the election of a new president in 2012.

Read my entire column at Forbes.com: The Apothecary.