Most of what we read about healthcare reform is biased and manipulative; it consists of opinions and propaganda generated by people who stand to profit, or not, under the new laws.
Where can we find a more objective analysis of healthcare reform? Try the following article in the Financial Times (London).
US healthcare: In line to improveBy Stephanie Kirchgaessner
Published: April 22 2010
As far as I can tell, Stephanie Kirchgaessner has no axe to grind. She analyzes the impact of the new laws on various industry players, including hospitals, insurers, drug manufacturers, and doctors.
Here are some excerpts:
The US hospital industry, which by one estimate generated $740bn in revenue last year, has emerged as a big winner from the new law. HCA, the biggest hospital chain, is laying the groundwork for a $4bn public share offering in the wake of the passage of a measure that analysts say will benefit the private equity owned company. ...
Young and healthy patients will receive a tax penalty if they do not buy insurance – helping to balance out the cost of the sick – but insurance companies contend that the penalties are not stiff enough ... there is also a more immediate pressure on insurers: a provision in the new law that requires providers in big markets to spend 85 per cent or more of every dollar they make paying people’s medical claims. In short, the law will force insurers to shift how they spend their money: paying more for patient services, and less for marketing and other practices the government sees as non-essential.
Big pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer of the US and the UK’s GlaxoSmithKline decided relatively early on to work with the Obama administration ... In exchange, say critics, “big pharma” got off lightly ... Tough measures it opposed, such as the importation of cheap drugs from Canada, were dropped from the lawmakers’ agenda ... The industry also won another, potentially more significant victory. Initially, a provision that gave generic drugmakers such as Teva of Israel and Watson Pharmaceutical a new “pathway” for regulatory approval of generic biological drugs, or “biogeneric” medicines, at the Food and Drug Administration looked like a big blow to branded drugmakers. ... Though generic drugmakers have long sought to create versions of biological medicines, rivals such as Amgen and Genentech fought the measure, largely with success.
A doctor in America is more likely than not to have a relationship with a pharmaceutical company. ... Under the new law, patients will receive more information about their physicians’ side deals with health providers including makers of drugs and medical devices.
Read more:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4b1a7e46-4e3d-11df-b48d-00144feab49a.html
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