Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
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…
President Trump’s May 12 Executive Order around Most-Favored-Nation drug pricing argues that countries outside the US need to raise their prices on pharmaceuticals saying that many other countries are “freeloading” and paying less than their share for pharmaceuticals. In response, pharmaceutical companies have increased prices in the UK and even threatened to “walk away” from…
Yesterday, the UK government released it’s Life Sciences Sector Plan (LSSP). The British government summarized the provisions as follows: 1. Unlocking NHS data to find new cures. Up to £600 million investment to build the world’s most advanced health data system – helping scientists develop better treatments faster. 2. Speeding up clinical trials. Cutting red…
As reported by the BBC: NHS England will be abolished and brought under “democratic control” in an attempt to cut bureaucracy and duplication, Sir Keir Starmer has announced. The organisation, which oversees the country’s health service, will be brought into the Department of Health, and the PM said the move would free up money for…
China has been transitioning from a fee-for-service (FFS) payment system to a Diagnosis-Related Group (DRG) payment system for hospitals in various cities. Under the FFS model, hospitals were reimbursed for each individual healthcare service provided, which created incentives to increase the number of services during a patient’s hospitalization. In June 2019, the National Healthcare Security…
ISPOR Europe kicks off this week in Barcelona, Spain. In honor of ISPOR, I will summarize some key attributes of the Spanish health care system based on a 2024 report from the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and the Instituto Aragones de Ciencias de la Salud. Country overview Population: 48.4 million (as of…
That is the question considered by Wouters and Kuha (2024) in a recent Health Affairs article. The authors use IQVIA data between 1982 and 2024 on the timing of drug launches and estimate median delay times using a Kaplan Meier estimates. They find that: From the first launch globally, the median time to availability was…
One of the key benefits of the UK health system is that everyone has access to care. However, is care provided equally to all people? A paper by Matias et al. (2024) examines whether or not there are any inequalities in waiting times by socioeconomic status for women diagnosed with breast cancer in England and…