A Boston University School of Public Health study says that, on average, the U.S. pays 81% more for patented brand-name prescription drugs than Canada and six Western European countries. One of the study authors is quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle: "Congress has left prescription drug makers free to raise their prices here without controls, so we can the consequences over time...What we really need to be doing in this country is obtain Canadian-type prices rather than Canadian prescription drugs themselves."
The Wall Street Journal reports on the anger and fear felt by many over cuts and elimination of company-sponsored health care benefits. The Journal reports that Communications Workers of America have placed ads in major U-S newspapers criticizing Lucent Technologies for cutting retiree benefits at the same time "top executives are richly compensated." The article suggests that broken retiree health care benefit promises is leading to "the mobilization of thousands of retirees." The executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans said, "Elderly Americans have to vote like their lives depend on it."
More Americans believe that health care is the most critical issue facing the U-S today, according to a survey by the Employee Benefits Research Institute. 22% of those surveyed ranked health care tops, ahead of terrorism, the economy, the war in Iraq, education, the budget deficit and taxes.
Journalists must examine whether have adequately reflected this growing level of concern in their coverage.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press (Ragsdale, 10/28) reports that Minnesota Republican governor Tim Pawlenty and former Senator David Durenberger, a Republican who has advised Pawlenty on health policy, "parted ways" Wednesday in their evaluation of John Kerry's health care plan.
The article reports:
"Pawlenty participated in an anti-Kerry news conference Wednesday with other top party officials, a group that criticized Kerry's health care proposals and praised those of President Bush, the Republican incumbent. But on the same day, former U.S. Sen. Dave Durenberger, a health care expert who chaired the governor's Citizens Forum on Health Care Costs, wrote a newspaper column arguing that Kerry's health care plan is far superior to Bush's."
At a news conference, Pawlenty said, "I was disappointed, to be candid about it. We can have a good discussion about the merits of the health care debate, but the timing of the op-ed piece on the eve of the elections (is) not helpful, from a Republican standpoint."
Durenberger, told the Pioneer Press that Pawlenty's remark "makes me smile.''
He said there is "a presumption on the part of Republicans that every Republican is the same.''
Two items on marketing in the health care setting stand out today.
1. The New York Times reports ("Burgers for Health Professionals") on the spread of fast food restaurants in hospitals across the country. A McDonald's spokesman, talking about the golden arches in a children's hospital, said, "Happy Meals provide kids with the nutrients they need. From the emotional side, it really does help them get better."
2. The Wall Street Journal reports ("Eye Doctor to Elite Blazes New Trail in Selling Surgery") on "the transformation of opthalmology into a business requiring acute consumer-marketing savvy." The Journal says this was sparked by Lasik surgery, rarely covered by insurance. "The hunt for patients willing to pay thousands of dollars for surgery not covered by medical insurance is thrusting more doctors into a new world of hype and promotion."
Fear has been a political toy in this election year. Politicians in both parties have used fear to fan flaming rhetoric.
Now the government is battling fear, but the plea may sound empty to many ears.
An assistant secretary for aging told Florida elderly not to worry about the flu: "There's no reason to be alarmed. There are plenty of vaccines on their way." (New York Times, 10/24.)
One state health official is quoted by the Times saying, "I can't say 'Don't worry, this will be O.K.' because I'm not sure it will be."
The Star Ledger (Newark) reports that Novartis Pharmaceuticals recently sent a memo to employees urging them to choose more generic drugs and over-the-counter medications, and to buy more medicines throught the mail, to "control the escalation of costs."
A citizen advocacy group leader called this "hypocritical" and "a well-deserved dose of their own medicine."
The Star Ledger reports: "Others pointed to the irony of a brand-name drug maker encouraging its employees to use generic drugs. For several years, many drug makers have fought lengthy court battles to prevent lower-cost generic medications from reaching pharmacy shelves."
A Consumers Union health care analyst said, "It could be a smart move. They could save millions of dollars."
Don't expect to see this message in any new direct-to-consumer drug advertising campaign.
Third quarter earnings for UnitedHealth Group increased 47% from a year ago, up to $698 milllion.
In 2003, UnitedHealth CEO William McGuire received over $94 million in total compensation, ten times what he netted the year before.
Item 1: This past summer, Medicare announces it will consider covering obesity treatments including gastric bypass.
Item 2: In September, Medicare announces it will pay for some PET scans for people suspected of having Alzheimer's disease.
Item 3: Yesterday, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Medicare might start paying for impotence drugs.
The Inquirer quoted an economist: "If you have a certian amount of money that you want to spend on health care for the elderly, how much of a priority is covering these types of pharmaceuticals as opposed to other therapeutic interventions?"
Today's Washington Post gives details of the politics behind the PET scan decision. It says, "The PET industry did not conduct new studies or gather fresh evidence of its usefulness after being turned down for Alzheimer's coverage in 2003. Instead, PET proponents took a political path." Read the Post story to follow the money of how the pork was cooked in this move.
Again the question should be asked: Who's minding the budget at Medicare, which is projected to have a record-breaking 17% premium increase next year?
The New York Times reports (Elliott/Ives, 10/12/04) that the FDA is actually considering a proposal to loosen the rules on direct-to-consumer drug ads. The Times says the plan would let print ads be more "reader-friendly", concentrating on the most important or common side effects.
For the people who could get sick or die from the "less important" or more uncommon side effects, perhaps a "consumer friendly" or "consumer protection" approach would be in the public service more than merely a "reader friendly" emphasis.
Two studies in the October 7 Health Affairs show once again how more expensive health care interventions do not always lead to better care. Across thousands of patients in hundreds of hospitals, the data show that despite spending "vastly more money" on x-rays, visits to specialists, inpatient care and followup, the high-use facilities were not doing a better job on quality care than the low-use facilities.
The research also showed wide patterns of practice variations and wide gaps in care for people on Medicare throughout the country. One of the researchers, Dartmouth's Jack Wennberg, has said in the past that in health care, geography is destiny. How you get treated may depend largely on where you live.
Several breast cancer advocacy groups are concerned about "the onslaught of commercialism" surrounding October breast cancer awareness campaigns sponsored by cosmetic companies, candy bar makers, kitchen applicance companies and others, according to an AFP news service story.
A San Francisco group director says, "No one knows exactly how much money is being raised and spent every year, or where all the money is going." Her group complains of a "fractured" approach to research, and of poorly coordinated funding and research.
Another national group leader says, "There is a lot of noise, pink all over the place, all that talk distracts us from the real issue, which is we don't know how to fight this disease." She also says the current focus is "too much on mammography."
Journalists should be all over this story. There still is controversy over the benefits of mammography for women in their 40s. There still is profound uncertainty about what to do about ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), which is showing up earlier on newer, more sensitive mammograms. There still are more than 200,000 American women diagnosed each year, two million living with the disease, and 40,000 a year dying.
Whom to believe? And when? Just hours after many U.S. journalists trumpeted that there will be plenty of flu vaccine for this winter comes the announcement that there will be a tremendous shortfall because of production problems.
Troublesome government proclamations on flu vaccine campaigns go back at least as far as President Ford's swine flu crusade.
Journalists must exercise their normal, healthy skepticism and critical inquiry in health news.
According to two new 50-state annual surveys by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, the number of uninsured U.S. residents grew by five million in the past four years. State budget shortfalls are expected to total $40 billion this fiscal year, and many states are planning to cut Medicaid expenditures even more than they already have.
This should be page one newspaper material and first block TV material in every city in this country. Need to find a way to localize health policy news? Take a bite out of this issue.
President Bush on Monday in Iowa criticized John Kerry's health care plan as "creeping toward 'Hillary Care,'" a reference to the failed health care reform efforts of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) as first lady, the New York Times reports.
Voters need a few more seconds of substance and many fewer sexy soundbites.