Smoking Prevention in China

“All tobacco companies are state-owned, and the industry provides signifiant revenue; it also directly employs more than half a million people. From the government’s perspective, smoking is important to stability, both economic and social.  Some cigarettes are even subsidized–the cheapest brands cost as little as thirty cents a pack, because officials fear that farmers will…

Does Prescription Drug Coverage Save Money?

Many experts have claimed that increasing Medicare beneficiary’s access to prescription drugs through Medicare Part D is cost saving.  Even if it does increase cost, by increasing patient adherence to various prescription drugs, Medicare could prevent certain expensive hospitalizations and emergency room visits. The only problem is that it doesn’t. According to Liu et al.…

Just Say No

The cover of Newsweek examines how overtreatment can harm people’s health.  The article’s catchy title is “No! The one word that can save your life.” Healthcare Economist readers have know this is the case for a while.  The Institute of Medicine has noted that the prevalence of iatrogenic injuries is a serious problem, killing 100,000…

What does drug ‘price’ mean anyway?

How much do drugs cost?  The answer to this question depends who you are and how you want to measure cost.  For instance, MediSpan‘s Master Drug Data Base (MDDB) defines drugs prices as follows: Wholesaler Acquisition Cost (WAC) – the cost reported to Medi-Span by a manufacturer at which wholesalers purchase drug products from that…