PBMs

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) was outraged, if not surprised, at the report from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) showing the ongoing failure of HHS executives to accurately report and prevent improper payments.  With the government-wide improper payment total at a staggering $137 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2015 (and rising), the OIG outlines some of the steps that agency has taken to stem the tide of red ink, but finds significant operational failures, in both its reporting of improper payments and implementing corrective action plans. 

In 1998, 46 states and five U.S. territories signed onto the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) in order to recover taxpayer dollars lost to the treatment of tobacco-related health issues, which would then be used to fund anti-smoking campaigns and public health programs.  As part of the settlement, the states and territories will receive an estimated total of $246 billion over the first 25 years.

Beating up pharmaceutical companies is the new “cause du jour.”  Even though pharmaceuticals are only 10 percent of all healthcare costs, they tend to make easy targets because it is difficult to understand why such a small pill should cost so much money.

On June 25, 2015, President Obama made a bold proclamation regarding his signature healthcare law: “As the dust has settled, there can be no doubt that this law is working.”  He doubled down by adding that it “is working exactly as it’s supposed to.”  President Obama’s comments that day illustrate his continued unwillingness to accept the consequences of his healthcare takeover.  Ever since the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) became law, he has ignored the panoply of problems that plague the law and the wasteful government agencies it empowered.

It has been almost two years since the scandal over wait times for vets trying to get into see medical personnel at VA facilities first erupted and America’s Iraq and Afghan vets are still on the losing end of a sclerotic, mismanaged, and secretive VA bureaucracy.  We can now add obstructionist to that list of adjectives.

Presidential candidate Donald Trump has been vague and contradictory about the kind of healthcare reform plan he would offer to replace Obamacare. He has previously talked about having a government-run system, a mandate to purchase health insurance, “getting rid of the lines around the states,” allowing the government to “negotiate” drug prices, or preventing people from “dying on the streets.”