Prescription Drug News and Research

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While inflation takes a toll on seniors, billions of dollars in benefits go unused

Millions of older adults are having trouble making ends meet, especially during these inflationary times. Yet many don't realize help is available, and some notable programs that offer financial assistance are underused.

12 Sep 2022

Higher-cost Medicare Advantage plan not linked to better quality health care for seniors

Enrolling in a higher-cost Medicare Advantage plan may not always get seniors better quality health care, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

29 Aug 2022

Short-term NSAID use linked with first-time heart failure hospitalization in patients with type 2 diabetes

Short-term use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is associated with a first-time hospitalization for heart failure in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2022.

23 Aug 2022

Democrats didn’t achieve all their goals, but inflation reduction act makes historic Medicare changes

The giant health care, climate, and tax bill expected to pass the House on Friday and be sent to the president for his signature won’t be as sweeping as the Democrats who wrote it had hoped, but it would help millions of Americans better afford their prescription drugs and health insurance.

12 Aug 2022

No, the Senate-passed reconciliation bill won’t strip $300 billion from Medicare

As Senate Democrats raced to pass what could be their final piece of major legislation before the midterm elections, critics went to the airwaves to blast the proposal as hurting older Americans who rely on Medicare.

11 Aug 2022

Formulary restrictions may increase the risk of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a major risk factor for stroke, and for decades the anticoagulant warfarin was the standard treatment for lowering that hazard. However, numerous drug and food interactions make warfarin burdensome for patients.

10 Aug 2022

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Kansas makes a statement

Voters in Kansas told the rest of the country this week that they don't want their state to ban abortion. In a nearly 60%-40% split, voters turned back an effort by anti-abortion activists to amend the state constitution to remove its right to abortion, which would have allowed the legislature to ban the procedure.

4 Aug 2022

Music festivals embrace overdose reversal drugs, but fentanyl testing kits remain taboo

A 26-year-old was found dead at his campsite during the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in 2019. The toxicology report linked his death to a grim trend that has only worsened since.

3 Aug 2022

Administering low-dose buprenorphine intravenously may be a quick way to treat patients with substance use disorders

Overdose deaths involving opioids continue to be a major public health crisis, killing 1,280 people in Baltimore City in 2020, according to the Maryland Department of Health. Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have developed a new way to treat patients with substance use disorders intravenously by administering small doses of buprenorphine, a prescription drug used to treat opioid use disorder.

1 Aug 2022

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Drug price bill is a go in the Senate

President Joe Biden is the latest top Washington official to test positive for covid-19, following Vice President Kamala Harris, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. But work continues, particularly on a Senate bill that could, for the first time, allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and cap seniors' out-of-pocket medication costs.

21 Jul 2022

Listen: Why medical debt touches every corner of America

KHN's Noam N. Levey talks with Sasha-Ann Simons of WBEZ about America’s sprawling medical debt crisis.

15 Jul 2022

West Health issues statement on reports that Senate Democrats will lower prescription drug prices through reconciliation bill

West Health Chief Executive Officer Shelley Lyford issued the following statement on reports that Senate Democrats have reached agreement to move forward on a reconciliation bill that includes major provisions to lower prescription drug prices.

2 Jul 2022

Kratom: A dangerous or beneficial plant?

A new study summarizes the traditional and modern uses of kratom, as well as its pharmacology, benefits, and adverse health impacts.

23 Jun 2022

Lawmaker takes on insurance companies and gets personal about his health

Scott Wiener made a startling revelation at a spring legislative committee hearing: "I was in the hospital. I experienced the most intense abdominal pain that I could even imagine."

9 Jun 2022

California wants to slash insulin prices by becoming a drugmaker. Can it succeed?

California is diving into the prescription drug business, attempting to achieve what no other state has done: produce its own brand of generic insulin and sell it at below-market prices to people with diabetes like Sabrina Caudillo.

7 Jun 2022

Pandemic-era changes to prescribing opioid use disorder treatment improved treatment outcomes

Pandemic-era changes to prescribing guidelines for the lifesaving drug buprenorphine led to improved treatment outcomes for patients with opioid use disorder in Philadelphia, according to a recently published study in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports from researchers at Drexel University's Dornsife School of Public Health.

3 Jun 2022

A multi-pronged effort needed to ensure all patients with obesity get better care

When a person with diabetes, high blood pressure, or osteoarthritis goes to their primary care clinic, they expect treatment that's grounded in modern medical evidence.

31 May 2022

Study estimates $1.8 billion in Medicare spending on drugs with accelerated approval

The U.S. federal government spent an estimated $1.8 billion in Medicare funds in 2019 on drugs whose clinical benefits have yet to be confirmed by the Food and Drug Administration, a new study led by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests.

24 May 2022

Study highlights the economic burden affecting individuals with sickle cell disease

In a study published today in Blood Advances, researchers found that privately insured individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD) spend approximately $1.7 million on disease-related medical expenses over their lifetime.

16 May 2022

Medicare surprise: Drug plan prices touted during open enrollment can rise within a month

Something strange happened between the time Linda Griffith signed up for a new Medicare prescription drug plan during last fall's enrollment period and when she tried to fill her first prescription in January.

3 May 2022