A Medicaid Per Capita Cap: State by State Estimates

This analysis examines the potential impacts on states, Medicaid enrollees, and providers of implementing a per capita cap on federal Medicaid spending, which is one proposal that has been discussed in Congress. Such a plan could decrease federal Medicaid spending by $532 billion to almost $1 trillion over a 10-year period, depending on how states…

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Radiopharmaceutical Manufacturing: A High-Stakes Race Against Time

From the executive boardrooms of pharma companies to academic research centers, one fact is becoming unmistakably clear: making radiopharmaceuticals is an inherently complex, high-stakes endeavor, and the industry is racing to manage the risks of these perishable therapies before the clock runs out The post Radiopharmaceutical Manufacturing: A High-Stakes Race Against Time appeared first on…

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Goodbye, American Science

By KIM BELLARD Many people don’t realize it, but a hundred years ago America was something of a scientific backwater. Oh, sure, we had the occasional Nobel laureate, but the center of science was in Europe, particularly Germany. Then in the early 1930’s the Nazis decided that “purity” – of political ideas, of blood –…

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How hard is it to prove you have coverage?

A friend of mine who wants to stay anonymous (for now at any rate) had a crazy waste of time proving that he was eligibile for a medication on his plan. I thought his story might trigger a few of you! And yes Optum is of course part of United HealthGroup–Matthew Holt Here is the…

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More evidence that there are diminishing marginal returns to quality of life gains

Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) are commonly used to evaluate the impact of new medical technologies on patient mortality and morbidity. However, use of QALYs Many authors have discussed the fact that standard assumptions result in utility functions that are unrealistically linear and separable, overlooking the diminishing marginal utility a fundamental property of utility functions in…

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