Medicare, pharmacies, and formularies

From CMS, it’s the annual guide to “How Medicare Drug Plans Use Pharmacies, Formularies, & Common Coverage Rules.” Click here to download your PDF copy today!

Dems want Medicare to negotiate, but….

As they prepare to take control of the House in January, Democrats want to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices — something they and candidate Donald Trump agree on. But, in order to be able to negotiate prices, Medicare also needs the power to refuse to pay for certain drugs, the way other countries can. (Without that power, it can’t really negotiate, can it?) And that is going to face opposition from those who want Medicare to have to cover every FDA-approved treatment.

The show premieres January 3.

Ticked off

Tick-borne diseases — “Lyme disease, Powassan virus; spotted fever rickettsiosis, including Rocky Mountain spotted fever, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis, babesiosis and tularemia” — hit record numbers in the U.S. last year, says the CDC, and are expected to increase thanks to warmer weather. And that’s just what’s reported. The actual number is probably 10 times higher. Yay.

What, a news report not good enough for you? You want charts, maps, references to the Pope, and really disgusting photos of what the diseases look like*? Fine. Click here for the full 108-page report from HHS’s Tick-Borne Disease Working Group.

Some like it hot (and that’s probably a little better)

“Case closed” reads the headline. The healthiest coffee you can drink, it claims, is …well, it isn’t really answered. All it says is that hot-brewed coffee looks to have more antioxidants than cold brew. (Actually, hot-brewed coffee has more “antioxidant capacity,” whatever that means.)

So don’t close any files just yet.

While we’re looking at dubious claims…

Someone found a nutritionist who says that pizza is a better breakfast food than most cereals. (“Most” in this case meaning the likes of Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs, not shredded wheat.)

That’ll do, pig

Admit it, “xenotransplantation” sounds so much cooler than “getting human organs from pigs.” But either way, the result could be the same: saved human lives, and more delicious bacon.