The Verdict Is In—Price Gouging Harms People With Gout

The patient arrived in my clinic, their right big toe the color of a spring strawberry. The lightest touch caused exquisite pain. Fortunately, I was able to prescribe a pill (an ancient medicine, actually) and the patient was better by the next day.

Too bad that simple treatment is becoming unaffordable, through a maddening combination of greed and regulatory failure.

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Spend Too Much On Your Medications? Help Is On The Way

How is a physician supposed to know which medicine is most affordable under which insurance plan?

Fortunately, there are tools coming into use designed to help clinicians figure out patient-specific costs of any medication they prescribe. The tools (jargon alert!) are called RTBTs, for real-time benefit tools.

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Regulating Surprise Bills Lower Healthcare Prices – Guess How Much

You wake up in the post-operative recovery area, still groggy, the full effects of the procedure obscured by an anesthetic haze. You begin to ponder several questions: Was the surgery a success? Did the surgeon find anything unexpected? How quickly will the procedure make you feel better?

There’s another question you might ask yourself. A few weeks from now, is anyone involved in your care going to send you a surprise bill?

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PeterUbel