Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Today I attended the very interesting ISPOR Health Policy Leadership Exchange (HPLE) in Washington DC on the topic of Most Favored Nation (MFN). There were a number of important points made and I’ll summarize a few of them. First, US drug prices are much higher than in other OECD countries. An ASPE report from 2024…
As online pharmacies have grown in prominence, the German government aim to pass legislation to increase the profits of brick-and-mortar pharmacies in order to keep more physical locations available to Germans. Did it move sales from online to brick-and-mortar pharmacies? Is the law likely to keep brick-and-mortar pharmacies in business? These are the questions asked…
The answer is provided by EFPIA’s annual WAIT indicator (press release, report). First, we see a large decrease in the share of pharmaceuticals fully availbity, drive by a small increase in reduced availability but a much larger increase in the number of drugs that only have a limited availability. Specifically, Historically full availability was the…
I am traveling to Panamá this Friday. Here are some interesting facts about the country’s health care system. Life expectancy is better than the U.S. Life expectancy in Panamá is 79.59 compared to 79.30 in the U.S. Mix of public and private health insurance. Panama’s healthcare architecture rests on two distinct public pillars. The Caja de…
It is not bringing down US prices, but delaying launches in Europe. Reuters reports: Drug launches in EU markets fell by some 35% in the 10 months since Trump’s executive order, compared with the previous 10 months…Delaying launches at lower EU prices could help secure higher U.S. prices for longer. You can read the full…
An NBER working paper by Barwick, Xia and Xia (2026) provides the answer: In 2010, China accounted for less than 8% of global clinical trials; by 2020, it had surpassed the US in annual registered clinical trial volume…We provide strong evidence that China’s rise was primarily driven by the National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL) reform,…
Let’s look at some data on mean annual physician income in the U.S. compared to other countries: U.S.: $458,100 Canada: $194,700 Netherlands: $185,700 Sweden: $115,200 Why are U.S. physician incomes so much higher than other developed countries? Is it a good idea to try to drive down physician incomes? An NBER working paper by Buehler…
Republicans are pushing for increased use of high deductible health plans (HDHP). HDHPs have increased over time, from 29% of all employer health plans in 2021 to 33% of all employer health plans in 2025. One country that has successfully used HDHP is Singapore. A 2020 Commonweath Fund Report summarizes 3 components of the Singapore’s…
That is the title of a paper by Longo et al. (2025). The authors use dynamic panel data on Adult Social Care (ASC) in the UK. What is ASC include: A quick explainer about ASC in the UK: In England, there are 152 upper-tier local authorities (LAs) who are responsible for publicly-funded ASC services. Access…
That is the news out of the UK today. A press release from the United Kingdom government states: A 25% increase in medicine pricing corresponds to 2 changes to the way NICE evaluates medicines; a change to the cost effectiveness thresholds and the introduction of a new value set for judging health states.NICE currently assesses value for money…