Month: June 2017
The Orphan Drug Act: Unintended Consequences From Salami Slicing
Prescription drug prices are a top cause of increasing U.S. health care costs, with specialty drugs (such as Sovaldi) especially being the culprit for impacting cost trends. Even though specialty drugs constitute less than 1 percent of the total prescriptions, they account for 35 percent of the projected drug cost trend for 2017. This is […]
Continuing Responses to 9/11: The Price of Justice
On September 28th, 2016 Congress voted in favor of the first veto override during Obama’s presidency. The bill at issue was the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), a very controversial piece of legislation that received massive support in both the House and Senate but was adamantly opposed to by the Administration. Prior to […]
Will New “Real World Evidence” Standard Hurt Drug Safety?
On December 13, 2016, President Barack Obama signed the 21st Century Cures Act into law. The Act passed the House and the Senate with considerable bipartisan support, a rarity in today’s political climate. The Act is a sprawling piece of legislation, covering many health care policy areas and appropriating billions of dollars for various causes, […]
Negotiating with Goliath: Lawmakers’ battle with Uber & Lyft over ridesharing legislation
As I stepped off the plane and into the jet bridge, I already had my Uber app opened on my smartphone, and only a few short minutes after requesting a ride, the driver was calling me to tell say that he was outside baggage claim. This kind of convenience and ease that e-hailing companies like […]