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News & Features
September, 2007
September edition of M.D. Pharmacy's monthly newsletter. Articles regarding your medications, their safety, and the price you pay for them. Please share this with your neighbors.
Controversy regarding Avandia finally "resolved".
Those of you regular readers of this Newsletter are aware of the controversy regarding the safety of the diabetes drug Avandia, and its possible links to heart attacks. Federal health advisors recently voted strongly in favor of not removing the drug from the market, citing the lack of "conclusive" data proving the drug’s link to the problem. The FDA is not required to follow the recommendations of the advisory group, but usually does. Despite evidence that the drug can cause an increase in heart attack risks, the advisory group felt that the evidence was not strong enough to merit removing the drug from the market, and that only a "black box" warning to flag the heart risks on the literature to physicians was sufficient. In May, the New England Journal of Medicine studies revealed a 43% higher risk of heart attacks for patients taking Avandia than those taking other drugs, or no diabetes drugs at all. The manufacturer of the drug, Glaxo Smith Kline recommends extending the long term studies of the drug, but FDA scientist Dr. David Graham said that waiting for more results could subject as many as 2200 people a month to serious side effects of the drug. Glaxo argued that there is no increased risk.
Congress differs from Bush on healthcare.
A rare bipartisan agreement in the Senate has been approved, which will expand insurance coverage for low-income children and cutting subsidies paid to private health plans serving Medicare beneficiaries. The Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives is following the Senate’s lead in a draft healthcare bill which President Bush has already threatened to veto. The bills call for higher federal tobacco taxes to fund an expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, against the wishes of the Bush administration. U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-NY., who is chairman of the Ways and Means Committee said the House bill would reverse the Republican drive to privatize Medicare, reports the New York Times. The House bill enjoys lobbying support of two major groups- the 39 million strong AARP and the American Medical Association. Democrats hope to portray the issue as a fight by children and older Americans against tobacco and insurance companies, hoping to form an intergenerational coalition strong enough to override the expected presidential veto.
U.S. Representatives find common-sense fix to Medicaid pharmacy reimbursement.
In a move to protect patient access to community pharmacies, Reps. Nancy Boyda (D-Kan), and JoAnn Emerson (R-Mo), and a bipartisan coalition of 30 House members have introduced H.R.3140, the Saving Our Community Pharmacies Act of 2007. The bill provides four modifications to Medicaid’s soon to be enacted generic prescription drug pharmacy reimbursement formula that will cause many community pharmacies to either limit the amount of Medicaid services they provide, leave the program entirely, or even close up.
Required reading for anyone taking medication.
If at all possible, obtain , beg, borrow or use any means possible to get the July 30th issue of Newsweek magazine. Once you have it, turn to page 45 and read the marvelous article by financial genius Jane Bryant Quinn entitled, Yes, We Can All Be Insured. In the article Ms. Quinn points out the obvious fact that so many politicians and aspirants for President have failed to grasp. The reason that America spends so much for health care, and receives so little, is because we are allowing the private insurance companies to rob us blind! There are 46 (soon to be 56) million uninsured Americans because they cannot afford health-care premiums, or they are high risk patients which the insurance companies turn away. Even people who feel secure because they think they are ‘well covered" may find that the insurance company can refuse to pay for certain high cost life-saving procedures. Ms. Quinn says that she agrees that we cannot afford to cover everyone under the crazy health system we have now. Ms. Quinn says "An excellent template for universal healthcare is right under our noses: good old Medicare. When you think reform, think "Medicare for all". "Medicare’s overhead is just 1.5%, compared with 13 to 16 percent in the private sector. THE PRIVATE INSURERS OVERHEAD LAST YEAR WAS $120 BILLION, OF WHICH $40 BILLION WAS PROFIT! By comparison it would cost $54 Billion to cover all the uninsured. That’s $40 billion of your dollars, which instead of improving your health care, ended up in the pockets of the insurance company executives. Please, read the article.
The pharmacists and staff at M.D. Pharmacy, your neighborhood pharmacy.