Insight, analysis & opinion from Joe Paduda
President Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress tomorrow night looks like the last best hope for health reform in 2009. Despite all the protestations about ‘ObamaCare’, the reality is the President has been remarkably silent on health reform … Continue reading Will cooler heads prevail in health reform?
Read More...Last week I posted on the pending change in pharmacy pricing that will reduce prices by about 4% for most brand drugs. The pharmacy and big food-and-drug chains are negotiating with the big PBMs; they are seeking ‘cost neutrality’; that … Continue reading The coming change in drug pricing
Read More...The short answer is – it got combined with other sorta-kinda related businesses and put under one boss – Dan Fishbein, MD, in the “New Product Businesses” unit. According to an Aetna Communications staffer; “AWCA is part of the New … Continue reading What happened to Aetna’s work comp division?
Read More...The folks over at Think Progress have compiled a brief summation of Alaska Gov Sarah Palin’s record on health care. There’s not much there, given her short tenure as governor. What’s the net? Alaska is a state with healthy people, … Continue reading Palin’s health care record
Read More...Colleague Bob Laszewski has ferreted out a couple of health care-related items from Sarah Palin’s brief tenure as Governor of Alaska. One is her push to eliminate Certificate of Need requirements for building health care facilities, the other calls for … Continue reading Gov. Sarah Palin on health care
Read More...I’m covering the World Health Care Congress in D.C. today, and will be posting from the front row. I’ll start with the intro keynote, and post on each session separately. Here’s the order 1. Global Health Trends 2. Interview w … Continue reading Today’s adventure in blogging
Read More...Today, we’re leading with a quote from W, from a talk in DC October 28, 2003 …”As you know, these are open forums, you’re able to come and listen to what I have to say…” That’s not what we do … Continue reading HWR – the back to school edition
Read More...One of the better reviews of the current push for transparency in drug pricing was published by the Napa Valley Times (with assistance from the WSJ).
Read More...Next year, CIGNA will be (financially) encouraging members to go to more cost efficient providers. The mid-tier health plan has announced that it will be charging members less if they go to lower cost physicians. CIGNA’s not alone. Aetna’s been … Continue reading Patients should know which providers are cheaper
Read More...AWP has long stood for “ain’t what’s paid”, and the old saw has been validated by documents made public during litigation in Boston earlier this year. First DataBank, one of the publishers of Average Wholesale Price data, had been sued … Continue reading What’s happening with AWP?
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