Annie Waldman of ProPublica has a story today explaining how the pharmaceutical industry is hiring academic economists and health policy professors to help justify the rising price tags of their drugs.
The piece centers around a firm called Precision Health Economics. Drug companies have paid the firm's experts to assist them with drug pricing and messaging. Their work has appeared in blogs, health policy journals and congressional testimony, giving an aura of academic rigor and independence, but the experts sometimes have not disclosed their ties to the industry.
Why this matters: Drug companies know the prices of their products are a top political concern, as more people have aired concerns about being unable to afford their medicine. This latest story builds on the growing corporate theme of quietly paying outside voices to make their business strategies more palatable to the public. ProPublica did a separate piece in November that showed companies are hiring university antitrust professors to defend their mergers in court.
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski told Alaska lawmakers on Wednesday that she "will not support a reckless repeal process" of Obamacare, emphasizing that she would fight the repeal of Medicaid expansion — a key component of the health care law — as long as the state legislature wants to keep it, per Alaska Dispatch News.
Murkowski said that although she was concerned about the long-term cost of the expanded Medicaid program, she also recognized that it has strengthened Alaska's Native health care system and reduced the number of uninsured people visiting emergency rooms.
So as long as this Legislature wants to keep the expansion, Alaska should have that option.
Why it matters: Senate Republicans can't afford to lose votes on Obamacare repeal. If they lose three, they can't pass it.
METAIRIE, La. — Sen. Bill Cassidy's town hall meeting this afternoon began with protesters arriving hours beforehand, many with their questions about Obamacare repeal and replacement prepped and ready to go. Then, they turned their backs on him as he tried to explain his Obamacare replacement plan with a PowerPoint.
That's pretty much how the whole meeting went. Read on for the highlights.
Town halls across the country last night erupted as U.S. citizens expressed their opinions and discontent with the political scene and demanded answers from their Congressman. Here are videos of recent hot moments.
A political advocacy group with ties to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is sending a message to conservative hardliners: We're repealing and replacing Obamacare, so get used to it.
The group, One Nation, is announcing today the launch of a series of TV ads in nine states that hit the failings of the health care law and promise that Republicans will "repeal and replace" it. Costs of the three week advocacy — which also includes radio, print and digital ads — will exceed $3 million.
