Prescription Drug Price Battle Emerges From Shadows As Other Health Care Issues Fizzle
Several measures trying to tackle high drug costs are getting a push now that the single-payer bill has been shelved, and the pressure has lessened on repeal-and-replace.
Los Angeles Times:
With New Allies And Approaches, California Lawmakers Try Again To Confront High Prescription Drug Prices
Less rowdy than the sputtered push for single-payer healthcare and less fraught than the battle over Obamacare’s future, the concern over the cost of prescription drug prices has been overshadowed for the past year by the marquee healthcare battles gripping Sacramento and Washington. ... The price disclosure bill , SB 17 by state Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-Azusa), is now one of five measures that have been proposed to tackle prescription costs, forcing the drug industry to fend off multiple threats. (Mason, 8/20)
In other news —
Los Angeles Times:
An Unforeseen Benefit Of California's Physician-Assisted Death Law
Many healthcare systems designed protocols for screening people who say they’re interested in physician-assisted death, including some that were meant to dissuade patients from taking up the option. But physicians across the state say the conversations that health workers are having with patients are leading to patients’ fears and needs around dying being addressed better than ever before. (Karlamangla, 8/21)