Latest California Healthline Stories
Pharmacists: ‘We’re Providers, Too’
When people think of reforming the health care system, they should include pharmacists in the equation, according to pharmacy experts who gathered for a conference this week in Sacramento.
Money to Be Made, Saved with Biosimilars?
A heated fight has developed over legislation to regulate a biotech development that hasn’t yet hit the U.S. market. On Wednesday, the state Senate Committee on Health will take up the topic of biosimilars and the surprisingly robust debate they’ve sparked.
“Legislation like this is a typical brand ploy,” said Brynna Clark, senior director for state affairs at the Generic Pharmaceutical Association, at a Senate Business and Professions committee hearing earlier this month. “It is being pushed by companies who stand to lose $60 billion in patent [expirations]. They don’t have a compelling interest to allow competition to the marketplace.”
That’s the opposition to the bill. Now a proponent:
“Quite frankly, I am shocked at the insensitivity that has been shown to patients during this debate,” said Eve Bukowski, vice president for state government affairs at the California Healthcare Institute, a not-for-profit research and advocacy organization. For cancer patients like Bukowski, who might need biosimilars treatment and who want their physician to be informed about a change in medication, she said, “Are our opponents really suggesting this is too much to ask? … Really?”
Step Forward for Oral Chemotherapy Bill
The Assembly Committee on Health approved a bill Tuesday that would require health insurers to provide oral chemotherapy therapy to their members with a maximum out-of-pocket $100 co-pay per prescription. Another version of AB 219 by Assembly member Henry Perea (D-Fresno) passed the Legislature last year, but was vetoed by the governor.
“This bill would ensure cancer patients have affordable access to the most appropriate cancer treatment covered by insurers,” Perea said. “When the governor vetoed a similar bill last year, he encouraged me to work with his administration to design a policy that will work for California. AB 219 represents a new strategy to make oral chemotherapy affordable.”
According to Perea, even a fully insured patient can spend $5,000 a month on oral chemotherapy medication, while intravenous treatments are covered by a small co-pay, no matter what the drug costs. So he wants to spread the cost over the entire insured population.
Obamacare Will Bring Changes — and Walgreens Wants ‘To Fill the Void’
After more than five years of ramping up health services, Walgreens last month took another major step and launched three accountable care organizations. The chain’s executives say that it’s poised to fill gaps in health care, especially with rising demand brought on by the Affordable Care Act.
Why the ObamaCare ‘Dirty Deals’ Don’t Tarnish the Law
Opponents of the Affordable Care Act are now trumpeting secret White House emails as their latest evidence that the reform law is broken. One author of the law begs to differ.
Health Debt Bill Passes Committee
Melanie Rowen, a woman with multiple sclerosis living in San Francisco, appeared before the Assembly Committee on Health yesterday to talk about money — or rather, lack of it.
When she first found out she had multiple sclerosis, Rowen had health care insurance but her medication was still expensive. “My insurance plan required me to pay 30% of it,” Rowen said. “I couldn’t afford it, but I put it on credit cards.” As she watched her disease progress, she saw her bank account drain away and her health care debt pile up.
Assembly member Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco) hopes to prevent similar scenarios with AB 1800 which would establish a limit on annual out-of-pocket expenses for prescription medications for insured Californians.
Misuse of Prescription Painkillers Becoming More Widespread Among Young Californians
Tom Lenox of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Michael Plopper of Sharp HealthCare Behavioral Health Services, Sherrie Rubin of the not-for-profit organization HOPE and Robert Wailes of the California Medical Association’s board of trustees spoke with California Healthline about prescription drug misuse.
Fresno County Projects Address Teen Drug Abuse
Teenage prescription drug abuse, considered a serious problem statewide, is the focus of Fresno County projects aimed at helping parents lock up, clean out and safely drop off unused narcotics.
Legislation Aims To Cut Wait for Prescription Drugs
New legislation designed to make the paper trail for prescription drug authorization simpler and shorter is awaiting signature by Gov. Jerry Brown (D).
While it is expected to have little effect on regular issuance of prescriptions, it likely will speed up the process for patients whose doctors prescribe other specialized medicines that are not covered by a health plan’s formulary.
These include brand-name medicines with generic alternatives, expensive medications, drugs not usually covered but deemed medically necessary by the prescribing physician, and drugs that usually are covered but are being used at a dose higher than normal.
Authorization Delays Targeted by Senate Bill
The Senate Committee on Health approved a bill last week that would cap administrative delay at 48 hours for prescription authorization.
The reasoning is simple behind SB 866 by Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina), according to Liz Helms, chair of the California Chronic Care Coalition.
“In representing more than 16 million people with chronic conditions in California, you can imagine how many medications that these people are taking,” Helms said, “and what a barrage of prior authorizations that face them when they’re trying to get their medication in a timely manner.”