Drug Pricing Transparency
Last March, I quoted the new Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Alex Azar, as saying, “Change is possible, change is necessary, and change is coming.” I hope so. Change is desperately needed. It remains to be seen if the federal government can make the changes needed and make them fast enough. The biggest barrier […]
AI and Congress
On April 10th and 11th, 2018, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was questioned for almost 10 hours by senators and representatives before joint Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees regarding the company’s privacy policies and use of data collected on the company’s social media web site. The most used phrase in Mr. Zuckerberg’s responses was AI (artificial […]
Facebook and Congress
Security and privacy of our online presence is vitally important, perhaps more so than we may realize at this stage of the evolution of social media. It is similar to patient safety and quality in healthcare; there is no room for compromise, and neglect can be catastrophic. I was quite involved in the subject of […]
Corrupt Congress
Congress not only indirectly raised the cost of healthcare by not allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, but also in at least one case, it raised the cost of drugs through a pinpoint piece of legislation. The New York Times reported a provision buried in the “fiscal cliff” bill passed in January 2013 gave Amgen, […]
Big Pharma and Politics
At a rally in Kentucky, President Donald Trump said drug prices were “outrageous”. The next day, according to Kaiser Health News, the pharmaceutical industry donated more money to political campaigns than any other day this year. On March 21, eight pharma political action committees made 137 contributions to 77 politicians totaling nearly $280,000. Both Republicans and […]