Healthcare spending accounted for close to 18% of the U.S. economy in 2017, far more than in any other developed nation.1 “Compared to 35 other [developed] countries, Americans have spent more on their health every year since 2000.”2 But in spite of all that spending, the U.S. continually ranks below even its most frugal peers…
Tag: healthcare
The Affordable Care Act at Odds with Antitrust? A Look into Hospital Mergers and Electronic Medical Record Implementations
There is a rising trend in hospital network and physician group consolidations, which has come hand in hand with the passing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). 1 One of the primary goals of the ACA is to facilitate the industry’s move from paper to electronic health records (EHR) and to obtain…
Pharmaceutical Pricing: The Free Market and Government Regulation on Drug Companies
Since Martin Shkreli announced that he would lower the price of Daraprim by an unnamed amount at some point in the future; as of this writing, he has not done so.1 Critics of Shkreli claim that the announcement to lower the price was merely a tactic to placate critics.2 Shkreli has responded by stating that such…
Pharmaceutical Pricing: The Intersection of Big Business and Healthcare
Until recently, Daraprim was a little known name.1 That is, until Turing Pharmaceuticals acquired the drug in August and increased the price of the drug from $13.50 to $750 per pill.2 Daraprim, known generically as pyrimethamine, is used mainly to “treat toxoplasmosis, a parasite infection that can cause serious or even life-threatening problems for babies…