Better Health Care Policy

By: Radio America
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  • Summary

  • A Healthier You - Better Health Care Policy features current developments in health care policy in the United States.
    Copyright Radio America
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Political Science
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Episodes
  • A Healthier You - Prescription prices and patient access to medication

    A Healthier You - Prescription prices and patient access to medication
    Oct 23 2017
    Dr. Rafael Fonseca, a hematologist and oncologist at the Mayo Clinic, explains why the value of some prescription medications justifies a much higher price tag than other drugs used to treat the same problems.  Dr. Fonseca also discusses how the vast majority of patients have access to the better medications at greatly reduced costs and the frustrating pressure placed on doctors to try cheaper but less effective medications to save money.  He also tells us why robust competition is the best way to develop excellent medications at the lowest possible prices.
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    13 mins
  • A Healthier You - The Price of Cancer Drugs

    A Healthier You - The Price of Cancer Drugs
    Oct 23 2017
    I’m Dr. Rafael Fonseca, and this is A Healthier You. There is a heightened interest in the price of cancer drugs. As an oncologist, I understand that there is a natural tension between what is perceived as the proper price of medicines, and what is a business-sustaining model that would allow innovation to flourish.  The reality is that the vast majority of patients, irrespective of their economic status, can receive their cancer medications.  In my clinic, we see patients from all walks of life, many with fixed income, and yet most of the time they can all get their drugs. Nothing is easier than pharma-bashing, but before we potentially stifle innovation in the name of “affordable medications”, let’s think twice. The alternative may be to tell cancer patients that we don’t think their lives are worth the cost of innovation. For more details, go to Facebook/BetterHealthCarePolicy.

     
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    1 min
  • A Healthier You - Doctors pressured to limit the use of costly new drugs

    A Healthier You - Doctors pressured to limit the use of costly new drugs
    Oct 23 2017
    I’m Dr. Rafael Fonseca and this is A Healthier You. Oncologists like myself are under increasing pressure to balance the needs of “society” with those of our patients by limiting the use of costly new drugs. Health care payers are using research from groups like the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, or ICER, to determine access to newer medicines. But this academic research does not reflect the real-world use of new medicines in clinical practice, and its misuse poses a danger to patients.  Denial of coverage, requirements such as “first fail” or increased co-pays based on such studies will negate the progress achieved in the treatment of cancer, to the detriment of patients. We physicians cannot serve two masters. In a choice between the welfare of patients and “society,” our responsibility is to the patient. For more details, go to Facebook/BetterHealthCarePolicy.

     
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    1 min

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