Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Consumer Drug Prices Likely Won't Fall, Despite CVS' Simpler-Pricing Plan
CVS Health is promising to simplify how its pharmacies get paid for drugs. At first blush, it sounds like the model popularized by Mark Cuban of Shark Tank fame, whose own drug program claims to save employers up to 60% compared with conventional arrangements. Drug pricing experts, however, say CVS’ CostVantage program appears designed to pad CVS’ own bottom line rather than make drugs cheaper for patients and employers. (Bannow, 12/5)
CVS Health's new plan to make the way it prices prescription drugs more predictable is the latest shift by pharmacy giants to overhaul their business models amid increasing pressure from policymakers and industry upstarts. More transparent pricing that's more closely tied to the base cost of a drug could drive down how much consumers and insurers pay for some medicines. (Reed, 12/6)
More on drug costs, drug shortages, and debt —
Millions of Americans with robust health insurance rely on drug company coupons or discount cards to fill expensive prescriptions for chronic health conditions. But those offerings may soon be limited in the wake of legal challenges and upcoming changes to federal regulations. ... These coupons and discount cards have effectively made prescription meds affordable for consumers with chronic medical conditions, according to patient advocacy groups. (Alltucker, 12/6)
The Pentagon isn't tracking medical debt among troops despite federal recommendations that it should, and now Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the chairwoman of the Senate Armed Services Committee's personnel panel, wants to change that. Warren has been pressing the Pentagon for an update on medical debt and wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in March asking about recommendations from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, that called for better collection of the data to safeguard service members' financial stability and credit ratings. (Kime, 12/4)
Members of the Senate Finance Committee took their first steps today toward using Medicare payment policy to fix drug shortages. (Wilkerson, 12/5)
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø News: These Programs Put Unused Prescription Drugs In The Hands Of Patients In NeedÂ
On a recent November evening, Angie Phoenix waited at a pharmacy here in Colorado’s second-largest city to pick up prescription drugs to treat her high blood pressure and arm seizures. But this transaction was different from typical exchanges that occur every day at thousands of pharmacies across the United States. The cost to Phoenix, 50, who lives in the nearby community of Falcon and has no health insurance, was nothing. (Ruder, 12/6)
