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gdpawel · 02-18-2009, 07:45 AM

The stimulus package is very much a healthcare issue. $21 billion is providing a 60% subsidy of health care insurance premiums for the unemployed under the COBRA program; $87 billion to help states with Medicaid; $19 billion to modernize health information technology systems; and $10 billion for health research and construction of National Institutes of Health facilities.

I agree with Maggie Mahar's comment about drug-makers, device-makers and physicians involved in designing and profiting from new tests and procedures not wanting to see their products and services subjected to head-to-head comparisons.

It's been difficult for the Medicare program to contol the substantial costs of cancer drugs. In a recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, an article by Dr. Peter Bach stated that the costs to Medicare of injectable cancer drugs given in doctors' offices increased from $3 billion in 1997 to $11 billion in 2004, an increase of 267% at a time when the costs for the entire Medicare program increased 47%.

It also states that there was a huge reduction in Medicare expenses that occurred when the off-label use of ESAs (drugs for anemia-related issues) was found to actually cause harm to patients. The drugs were proven to be over-used and the net result of the expose was that use of these drugs quickly dropped and the costs to Medicare dropped from over $1 billion a year to just $200 million.

In 2003, in the political payback deal of the century, Congress guaranteed premium pricing for pharmaceuticals, by prohibiting Medicare from negotiating drug prices, and it provided hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer subsidies to pay for these premium drug costs. Now the specter of "rationing" is raised.

Dr. Bach stated ways that the Medicare program could control costs. One of those ways was to fund a comparative-effectiveness program to assess whether or not treatments (mostly the newer targeted regimens) are really better than older treatments. Decisions are being made about what cancer treatments patients can actually afford.

Comparative research is not rationing health care. The research funding doled out in the recent Stimulus Package would go to the National Institute of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to focus on producing the best unbiased science possible.

Comparative research has the potential to tell us which drugs and treatments are safe, and which ones work. This is not information that the private sector will generate on its own, or that the "industry" wants to share. Companies want to control the data, how it is reviewed, evaluated, and whether the public and government find out about it and use it. Just about the way they are controlling data now.

Comparative-effectiveness research is not something for patients to be afraid of. It can help doctors and patients, through research, studies and comparisons, undertand which drugs, therapies and treatments work and which don't. Nothing in the legislation will have the government monitoring treatments in order to guide your doctor's decisions. Doctors will still have the ultimate decision, along with the patient.

02-18-2009, 07:45 AM	#19
gdpawel Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 1,080	Stimulus Package very much a Healthcare issue The stimulus package is very much a healthcare issue. $21 billion is providing a 60% subsidy of health care insurance premiums for the unemployed under the COBRA program; $87 billion to help states with Medicaid; $19 billion to modernize health information technology systems; and $10 billion for health research and construction of National Institutes of Health facilities. I agree with Maggie Mahar's comment about drug-makers, device-makers and physicians involved in designing and profiting from new tests and procedures not wanting to see their products and services subjected to head-to-head comparisons. It's been difficult for the Medicare program to contol the substantial costs of cancer drugs. In a recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, an article by Dr. Peter Bach stated that the costs to Medicare of injectable cancer drugs given in doctors' offices increased from $3 billion in 1997 to $11 billion in 2004, an increase of 267% at a time when the costs for the entire Medicare program increased 47%. It also states that there was a huge reduction in Medicare expenses that occurred when the off-label use of ESAs (drugs for anemia-related issues) was found to actually cause harm to patients. The drugs were proven to be over-used and the net result of the expose was that use of these drugs quickly dropped and the costs to Medicare dropped from over $1 billion a year to just $200 million. In 2003, in the political payback deal of the century, Congress guaranteed premium pricing for pharmaceuticals, by prohibiting Medicare from negotiating drug prices, and it provided hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer subsidies to pay for these premium drug costs. Now the specter of "rationing" is raised. Dr. Bach stated ways that the Medicare program could control costs. One of those ways was to fund a comparative-effectiveness program to assess whether or not treatments (mostly the newer targeted regimens) are really better than older treatments. Decisions are being made about what cancer treatments patients can actually afford. Comparative research is not rationing health care. The research funding doled out in the recent Stimulus Package would go to the National Institute of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to focus on producing the best unbiased science possible. Comparative research has the potential to tell us which drugs and treatments are safe, and which ones work. This is not information that the private sector will generate on its own, or that the "industry" wants to share. Companies want to control the data, how it is reviewed, evaluated, and whether the public and government find out about it and use it. Just about the way they are controlling data now. Comparative-effectiveness research is not something for patients to be afraid of. It can help doctors and patients, through research, studies and comparisons, undertand which drugs, therapies and treatments work and which don't. Nothing in the legislation will have the government monitoring treatments in order to guide your doctor's decisions. Doctors will still have the ultimate decision, along with the patient.