skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

New Group Says Inflated Drug Prices are Prescription for Disaster

play audio
Play

Thursday, January 17, 2008   

Boston, MA – A new coalition launching today is hoping to "bottle up" rising prescription drug prices to keep health care costs down. The Massachusetts Prescription Reform Coalition says the solution starts with reforming the way companies market drugs to physicians. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, drug companies spend $7 billion annually on marketing that targets physicians.

State Senator Mark Montigny, former chair of the Committee on Health Care, says he's fought for years to make policy changes, but his bills have been overpowered by lobbyists.

"One of the pieces that I filed separately, and am still pushing, is banning gifts. No doctor or hospital should receive anything from the pharmaceutical industry. It taints their decision making. That bill has already passed the Senate twice."

Montigny says it takes a broad-based coalition like this one to get things done. One significant way to hold down costs is the use of generic drugs, which the F.D.A. says often work just as well as name brand drugs and can cost up to 80 percent less.

Jessica Costantino, advocacy director for A.A.R.P. Massachusetts, says now that health insurance is required in the state it's even more important to keep costs in check.

"With the new health care reform law we want to make sure that prescription drugs don't totally skew the cost for all of the health care reforms that are happening here."

Doctor Daniel Carlat, a psychiatrist in Newburyport, was hired by a drug company in 2002 to speak to other doctors about certain drugs. The practice is legal, but he ultimately quit for ethical reasons.

"Here I was, being paid quite a bit of money by this company to give these talks, and it was very hard not to do what I felt I needed to do in order to continue to get paid this money."

Carlat explains the drug companies used computer data-mining to provide him with detailed prescribing habits for each doctor he gave talks to. He now believes there should be a policy that keeps that information private.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Many factors affect a customer's bill amount, including energy usage, weather, and the number of days in a billing period, according to Arizona Public Service. (Jason Yoder/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …


Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …


More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social media platform X temporarily shutdown searches of "Taylor Swift" following the release of explicit deepfake images in early 2024. (Mdv Edwards/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

Social Issues

play sound

A 2023 study from the University of Nebraska Medical Center concluded the number of Nebraskans with a mental health or substance abuse disorder has pr…

Environment

play sound

A farm group is helping Iowa agriculture producers find ways to reduce the amount of nitrogen they use on their crops. Excess nitrates can wind up …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021