Commentary
Commentary
A $20,000 model trashcan showcases San Francisco’s dysfunction
Three years ago, my East Coast relatives flew to San Francisco for my daughter’s wedding. At the time, national publications were having a field day depicting the city as a pit of decay filled with poop-covered sidewalks and rampant homelessness. My relatives were primed to see an urban landscape beset ...
Commentary
San Francisco’s Justice System Is Breaking Down
San Francisco’s criminal justice system may be reaching a breaking point. A San Francisco Superior Court judge recently found Public Defender Mano Raju in contempt and imposed fines after the office continued declining court-assigned cases in defiance of a prior order to stop doing so. District Attorney Brooke Jenkins says ...
Commentary
A lawsuit that may kill tomorrow’s cures
On Wednesday, May 6, the California Supreme Court will hear a case that could upend the economics of medical innovation. Roughly 24,000 plaintiffs are suing pharmaceutical company Gilead over one of its HIV drugs. They do not claim that the drug failed to work, nor that it was defectively manufactured, ...
Commentary
Can You Sue A Drug Company For Not Inventing Faster?
This week, the California Supreme Court is set to hear a case that could have far-reaching consequences for medical science. At issue is Gilead Sciences’ HIV treatment tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, or TDF. Tens of thousands of plaintiffs allege they suffered side effects while taking the drug. They are not arguing ...
Commentary
Price Controls Could Prevent the Next ‘Miracle Drug’
The death rate from cancer in the United States has fallen by more than one-third since 1991. HIV-related mortality has dropped ninefold since 1995. Death rates for Alzheimer’s, chronic respiratory diseases, and stroke have all declined in recent years, too. These gains didn’t happen by accident. They’re the result of ...
California
There’s inflation – and then there’s Gavin Newsom’s grade inflation
Democrats running for governor in California have said in recent debates that Gavin Newsom deserves high grades for his performance –– mostly B’s, and even A’s. To many Californians, that sounds like grade inflation. Nearly one in five Californians are considered poor –– the highest rate in the country –– ...
Commentary
Breaking Up ‘Big Medicine’ Won’t Fix What Washington Broke
Washington is gearing up to crack down on “Big Medicine,” with populist Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., leading the charge. Over the past decade, America’s healthcare system has become increasingly consolidated, leaving patients with higher prices, fewer choices, and more bureaucratic frustration. But before lawmakers swing a ...
California
Newsom’s $19 Million Ad Campaign Can’t Polish California’s Image
It’s going to take a lot more than a $19 million advertising blitz to make people forget about California’s problems. Governor Gavin Newsom, who is known to love “big, hairy, audacious goals,” recently hired the communications powerhouse Edelman to rehab the Golden State’s image, which, in Newsom’s telling, has been ...
Commentary
Don’t penalize patients for shopping smart on drugs — reward them
Patients shouldn’t be penalized for finding a better deal on their prescriptions. Too often, they are. Those who pay out of pocket for medications — often at lower prices through direct-to-consumer platforms — typically receive no credit toward their health plan’s annual deductible. Higher-priced drugs purchased through an insurer’s preferred ...
Commentary
Some Never Learn: Dems’ Healthcare Repeats Same Mistakes
Democrats are laying the groundwork for their next healthcare overhaul if they take control of Congress in this fall’s elections. A new report from the Center for American Progress shows exactly what they have in mind, and patients won’t like it. The group has long served as a policy incubator ...
A $20,000 model trashcan showcases San Francisco’s dysfunction
Three years ago, my East Coast relatives flew to San Francisco for my daughter’s wedding. At the time, national publications were having a field day depicting the city as a pit of decay filled with poop-covered sidewalks and rampant homelessness. My relatives were primed to see an urban landscape beset ...
San Francisco’s Justice System Is Breaking Down
San Francisco’s criminal justice system may be reaching a breaking point. A San Francisco Superior Court judge recently found Public Defender Mano Raju in contempt and imposed fines after the office continued declining court-assigned cases in defiance of a prior order to stop doing so. District Attorney Brooke Jenkins says ...
A lawsuit that may kill tomorrow’s cures
On Wednesday, May 6, the California Supreme Court will hear a case that could upend the economics of medical innovation. Roughly 24,000 plaintiffs are suing pharmaceutical company Gilead over one of its HIV drugs. They do not claim that the drug failed to work, nor that it was defectively manufactured, ...
Can You Sue A Drug Company For Not Inventing Faster?
This week, the California Supreme Court is set to hear a case that could have far-reaching consequences for medical science. At issue is Gilead Sciences’ HIV treatment tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, or TDF. Tens of thousands of plaintiffs allege they suffered side effects while taking the drug. They are not arguing ...
Price Controls Could Prevent the Next ‘Miracle Drug’
The death rate from cancer in the United States has fallen by more than one-third since 1991. HIV-related mortality has dropped ninefold since 1995. Death rates for Alzheimer’s, chronic respiratory diseases, and stroke have all declined in recent years, too. These gains didn’t happen by accident. They’re the result of ...
There’s inflation – and then there’s Gavin Newsom’s grade inflation
Democrats running for governor in California have said in recent debates that Gavin Newsom deserves high grades for his performance –– mostly B’s, and even A’s. To many Californians, that sounds like grade inflation. Nearly one in five Californians are considered poor –– the highest rate in the country –– ...
Breaking Up ‘Big Medicine’ Won’t Fix What Washington Broke
Washington is gearing up to crack down on “Big Medicine,” with populist Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., leading the charge. Over the past decade, America’s healthcare system has become increasingly consolidated, leaving patients with higher prices, fewer choices, and more bureaucratic frustration. But before lawmakers swing a ...
Newsom’s $19 Million Ad Campaign Can’t Polish California’s Image
It’s going to take a lot more than a $19 million advertising blitz to make people forget about California’s problems. Governor Gavin Newsom, who is known to love “big, hairy, audacious goals,” recently hired the communications powerhouse Edelman to rehab the Golden State’s image, which, in Newsom’s telling, has been ...
Don’t penalize patients for shopping smart on drugs — reward them
Patients shouldn’t be penalized for finding a better deal on their prescriptions. Too often, they are. Those who pay out of pocket for medications — often at lower prices through direct-to-consumer platforms — typically receive no credit toward their health plan’s annual deductible. Higher-priced drugs purchased through an insurer’s preferred ...
Some Never Learn: Dems’ Healthcare Repeats Same Mistakes
Democrats are laying the groundwork for their next healthcare overhaul if they take control of Congress in this fall’s elections. A new report from the Center for American Progress shows exactly what they have in mind, and patients won’t like it. The group has long served as a policy incubator ...