Thanks to Darin T. Okuda, M.D., M.Sc., F.A.A.N., F.A.N.A. for bringing this issue to light and doing what he can to help his patients. Specialty drug prices are astronomical and for those that need them, it’s not a luxury item #healthcare

Inflation reduction act was 🤢 for healthcare. #kickbacks collected by #PBMs accounted for 80% of the cost of insulin. The IRA gave a gift to the PBM leaches. More here realclearhealth.com/articles/2022/…

The permanent repeal of the rebate rule for CBO scoring purposes was a huge misstep. The CBO has consistently scored drug rebate reform wrong due to heavy payer industry influence. #pharmacy #TwitteRx

I appreciate Marion showing us how the PBMs inflate the list price of prescription meds. The list price is what co-pays and deductibles are based on and what uninsured patients pay. The kickbacks that PBMs and GPOs are allowed to collect cause massive market disruption and

You actually can’t make this up. In response to the claim that 50% of the U.S. FDA’s budget comes from pharma (a terrible incentive…), the agency released an official statement saying it is only 47%… An executive order should be signed tomorrow making this 0.

This is complete nonsense. No medical reason for this.

“More transparency without competition only shows us how badly we are being taken advantage of” ⁦Tiffany Ryder⁩ #healthcare benefitspro.com/2024/08/27/hea…

"Transparency without competition just allows you to see how bad you're getting screwed" Right David Balat ? Our latest op-ed explaining the (un)intended consequences of consolidation & lack of competition among health insurers. benefitspro.com/2024/08/27/hea…

If this isn’t regulatory capture, I don’t know what is. beckerspayer.com/payer/cms-scra…

CMS is letting United Health pocket $2.1 billion because of "stakeholder concern and pushback". CMS is owned by the payer conglomerates. The American people deserve better CMSGov Secretary Xavier Becerra #TwitteRx #Pharmacy

Great piece 👇by Tiffany Ryder and David Balat look at this chart... Obamacare's MLR is working great for insurers. For patients...not so much

“CMS saving money for taxpayers isn’t enough of a reason to face the wrath of very powerful health plans.” - Erin Fuse Brown 🤮 kffhealthnews.org/news/article/m… Fred Schulte

Ten years ago, UnitedHealth bought ProHealth Physicians, a major primary care group in CT. UnitedHealth promised it wouldn’t interfere with how the doctors take care of patients. Now, ProHealth is a shell of its former self, and the doctors regret selling. statnews.com/2024/08/28/uni…

They were either being intentionally deceptive or woefully ignorant. Either way, the outcome is the same and there should be repercussions

Who? Oh, you mean the ex Goldman Sachs exec who ran a branch of Optum when it was called Inginex. You mean this guy?

Following the money 💴 is always worthwhile. Appreciate the job Auditor General Tim DeFoor did here. My synopsis ( please correct me if I got it wrong) $7 million in Pa taxpayer 💴was wasted by PBM ( pharmacy Benefit Managers, Prescription middlemen) engaging in ‘spread pricing’ in 2022 in

Love all of this… listen to the end for his point re how wrong and anti-American was the suppression of humor and satire. Reminds me of Jerry Seinfeld making same point in commencement speech this spring at Duke.

Is anyone aware as to why the CDC is requiring contact tracing again?

I’ll just leave this right here…

Looks a lot like healthcare trends