Many more people avoiding care due to cost this year, survey shows
Thirty percent of Americans skipped care this summer due to cost, up from 18% earlier this year, according to a West Health and Gallup survey.
Major Survey Finds 100 Million Americans See US Healthcare System as ‘Expensive’ or ‘Broken’
Gallup and West Health, the two organizations behind the new survey out Tuesday, began the polling process by asking respondents to concisely describe the U.S. healthcare system in their own words.
Researcher Says Govt. Price Negotiation Saves More Than Generics
The Medicare negotiating provisions of the Build Back Better Act would lower drug spending more than the current generic competition system, according to calculations by West Health Director of Health Policy Sean Dickson.
Dems’ plan to limit drug price inflation faces test in Senate
One estimate from the West Health Policy Center — a nonprofit that studies health care costs — pinpoints the figure at roughly $100 billion, due to lower prescription drug costs increasing workers’ take home pay and resulting in higher payroll tax revenues.
Medicare Advantage’s cost to taxpayers has soared in recent years, research finds
“It’s hard to miss the big red flag that Medicare is grossly overpaying these plans when you see that beneficiaries have more than 30 plans available in their area and are being bombarded daily by TV, magazine and billboard ads,” says Cristina Boccuti, director of health policy at West Health.
Big Pharma Spent ‘Horrifying’ Sums of Money to Weaken Drug Price Reform
Last year, West Health Policy Center warned that if these trends continue, cost-related nonadherence to drug therapy—skipping doses to save money—will be “a leading cause of death in the U.S., ahead of diabetes, influenza, pneumonia, and kidney disease.”
Democrats are trying to cut drug costs for employers, too
Applying inflation caps to the commercial market would generate more than $150 billion in revenue for the federal government by 2030, according to an estimate by West Health.
It’s smaller than they’d hoped, but Democrats have their ‘win’ on drug prices
“We are concerned that the agreement will not go far enough, fast enough. … We see today’s agreement as a positive step forward, but it falls far short of the bold reform that is needed,” Shelley Lyford, president and CEO of nonprofit West Health, said in a statement.
White House Kills Off Major Drug Pricing Reforms as Democrats Fail to Coalesce
Sean Dickson, drug pricing expert at West Health, told Endpoints he’s still waiting to hear more details on the penalties that may occur when drug prices increase faster than the rate of inflation.
Big, Small Plans Split On Medicare Drug Price Negotiation
Insurers benefit from the high prices in the current system because their profits are percentage-based, so as costs go up, so do their profits, according to Sean Dickson, West Health director of Health Policy.
