Do Not Resuscitate (This System) #335 Feb 16 2024

Tim Frasca here to tell you about what’s in the mainstream and specialty healthcare news media about how we spend trillions of dollars making intermediaries rich instead of making ourselves healthier. This week, I observe variations on coverage of Bernie Sanders' committee hearing on drug costs. Then, I comment on the failures of health communication and reporting on health-related research, and there are also stories about concentration in the healthcare sector and the ongoing nightmare of medical debt. Here are the links to all the articles mentioned:

Rachel Cohrs, “In a showy hearing, Bernie Sanders gets few answers about lower drug prices,” STAT, Feb 8, 2024 https://bit.ly/3UHNAjl

Sydney Lupkin, “Senators ask CEOs why their drugs cost so much more in the U.S.,” NPR, Feb 8, 2024 https://n.pr/3uyA07i

Ben Botkin, “Oregon lawmakers look for ways to curb prescription costs,” Oregon Capital Chronicle, Feb 12, 2024 https://bit.ly/3uCneVq

Nathaniel Weixel, “Biogen walks away from controversial Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm,” The Hill, Jan 31, 2024 https://bit.ly/3UHT3XA

Helen Branswell, “HHS leaves vacant more than half the slots on a key vaccine advisory panel,” STAT, Feb 8, 2024 https://www.statnews.com/2024/02/08/acip-vacancies-hhs-vaccines/

Regina Benjamin & Jerome Adams, “Former U.S. surgeons general: The U.S. should ban menthol cigarettes,” STAT, Feb 9, 2024 https://bit.ly/3P7KIc7

Adam Kucharski, “Epidemiology has a causality problem,” Understanding the Unseen, Jan 29, 2024 https://kucharski.substack.com/p/epidemiology-has-a-causality-problem

Jonathan Yeatman, “Mission sale wasn’t good for HCA either: A former top exec argues for a return to local control, nonprofit status,” Asheville Watchdog, Feb 1, 2024 https://bit.ly/3OL4CcJ

Rebecca Pifer, “Amazon closing One Medical corporate offices,” Healthcare Dive, Feb 9, 2024 https://bit.ly/42EygFY

Are Amazon’s latest forays into healthcare failing again? It acquired One Medical in 2023, keeps losing money on it, and laid off hundreds there as well as at Amazon Pharmacy. Being huge apparently isn’t enough to achieve success in this field. Maybe people just don’t want to get doctored by Mr Bezos. 

Andrew Perez, “Republicans are planning to totally privatize Medicare—and fast,” Rolling Stone, Feb 5, 2024 https://bit.ly/48ovgyJ

Vallari Vaidya, “How a staggering rise in urinary catheter bills led investigators to alleged $2 billion Medicare scam,” Market Realist, Feb 12, 2024 https://bit.ly/3UCoMt5

Verónica Zaragovia, “With Medicaid expansion off the table, entrepreneurs and nonprofits help Florida’s uninsured,” Health News Florida/WLRN, Feb 6, 2024 https://bit.ly/3wpX4p7

Anna Claire Vollers, “Governments can erase your medical debt for pennies on the dollar—and some are,” Stateline, Feb 13, 2024 https://bit.ly/49hlgZq

Elisabeth Rosenthal, “GoFundMe has become a health care utility,” KFF Health News/The Atlantic, Feb 12, 2024 https://bit.ly/4bAOXGz

Tina Reed, “How one company managed to cut its health spending by almost half,” Axios, Feb 8, 2024 https://bit.ly/4bDkdoe

Gustavo Rivera, “Cutting expensive middle-men out of home care will save New York billions,” City Limits, Jan 22, 2024 https://bit.ly/49y7DoA

You can get my weekly written digest at tfrasca@gmail.com or delve into the archive of 6 years of links and comments at nypan.org/single-payer-news