[McClatchy DC] Insurers, regulators prepare to negotiate 2015 health coverage costs

05-20-2014 Press Release

By Tony Pugh May 20, 2014 The risk pools in these 24 states need these healthy people, who are cheaper to insure, to help offset the cost of sicker, more costly plan members. Without them, these states might experience rate hikes next year that are 10 percent larger than those in other states, said John […]

[California Health Line] High-Priced Drug Could Be Deal Changer

05-19-2014 Press Release

By George Lauer May 19, 2014   An effective, high-priced drug has governments, health insurers, consumers and ultimately taxpayers between a rock and a hard place. It could be a harbinger of things to come — including more medical breakthroughs and new policies to help pay for them. The success of Sovaldi is good news […]

[Puget Sound Business Journal] $1,000-a-pill hepatitis C drug may be too costly for Medicaid insurers

05-14-2014 Press Release

By Atia Musazay May 14, 2014   A breakthrough drug now on the market could be a potential cure for hepatitis C. But with its costly price tag of $1,000, or $84,000 for a 12-week treatment, the state of Washington is concerned that not everyone who needs the medication will be able to afford it. […]

[Bloomberg Government] Backlash on Rising Drug Prices Led by Cancer Doctors, Insurers

05-7-2014 Press Release

By Robert Langreth May 7, 2014   The backlash over surging drug prices is starting to take hold. With the average cost of branded cancer drugs doubling over the past decade to about $10,000 per month in the U.S., doctors, insurers and politicians are all moving in different ways to pressure drugmakers on pricing. Cancer doctors are […]

[Georgia Health News] Hepatitis C: The high cost of a cure

05-6-2014 Press Release

By Andy Miller May 6, 2014   Probably the biggest ethical dilemma now confronting the health care world involves two expensive new drugs to treat hepatitis C. The issue boils down to a tradeoff between efficacy and cost. One drug, Sovaldi, has a 90 percent cure rate for newly infected patients – much better than […]

[Forbes] At $1,000 A Pill, Hepatitis C Drug Sovaldi Rattles Medicaid Programs

04-28-2014 Press Release

By Bruce Jaspen April 28, 2014   Medicaid health insurance programs for the poor are grappling with how to pay for the costly Hepatitis C treatment Sovaldi, which costs $1,000 a pill and is running up a huge tab for states already grappling with myriad health and general budgetary issues. The costs are hitting Medicaid […]

[Washington Post] An $84,000 hepatitis drug is giving states and insurers a major headache

04-28-2014 Press Release

By Jason Millman April 28, 2014   The new hepatitis C drug Sovaldi is being hailed as a potential breakthrough treatment for a disease that affects about 3.2 million Americans. It’s also vexing insurers, who worry about the drug’s $1,000-a-day-price tag. (The full 12-week course of treatment runs about $84,000). One set of insurers is […]

[The New Yorker] BIOTECH’S HARD BARGAIN

04-28-2014 Press Release

BY JAMES SUROWIECKI April 28 Issue   Few people have done better in the recent stock boom than biotech investors. Biotech was the best-performing market sector last year, and in the past two years its stocks rose a hundred and twenty per cent. But suddenly, in late March, the stocks tanked, some falling more than twenty […]

[PBS News Hour] New Hepatitis-C drug raises hope at a hefty price

04-23-2014 Press Release

JUDY WOODRUFF April 23, 2014   Watch Story Here   JUDY WOODRUFF: Now: Who should pay when drugs are very effective, but extremely expensive? That’s an important question for the U.S. health care system as new treatments come along, and it’s a matter of real concern over a new drug that has a 90 percent to 100 […]

[CBS News] $1,000-a-day hepatitis C drug approved to treat prison inmates in Illinois

04-18-2014 Press Release

April 18, 2014   Illinois prison inmates will now be able to get a new and effective — but incredibly costly — drug for hepatitis C. The Herald-Review reported on Friday that the state Department of Corrections has approved the use of Sovaldi for hepatitis C. The medication has a cure rate of 95 percent. […]

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