Dealing With Drug Prices

Medicare officials tentatively plan to restrict the use of a controversial Alzheimer’s drug to only those patients participating in clinical trials, while the Department of Health and Human Services looks into lowering the monthly Medicare Part B premium.

Meanwhile, covid confusion still reigns, as the Biden administration moves, belatedly, to make more masks and tests available.

Joanne Kenen of Politico and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.

Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week that they think you should read, too:

Julie Rovner: The AP’s “Flush With COVID-19 Aid, Schools Steer Funding to Sports,” by Collin Binkley and Ryan J. Foley

Joanne Kenen: The New York Times’ “Covid Test Misinformation Spikes Along With Spread of Omicron,” by Davey Alba

Rachel Cohrs: KHN and Fortune’s “App Attempts to Break Barriers to Bankruptcy for Those in Medical Debt,” by Blake Farmer

Sarah Karlin-Smith: Stat’s “‘I’m Going to Prove You Wrong’: How a D.C. Power Couple Used an ALS Diagnosis to Create a Political Juggernaut,” by Lev Facher

Click here for a transcript of the episode.

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