USA Today Editorial Addresses IOM Report, Wal-Mart, Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit
FDA: According to USA Today, a "troubling" recent Institute of Medicine report finds that FDA "remains plagued by bureaucratic infighting, poor management and a dangerous passivity in evaluating drug safety." FDA maintains that approved drugs are "safe and effective," but the side effects of some medications are not "known until years later, when millions use them and adverse effects show up," the editorial states. "Rather than aggressively monitoring these problems, FDA waits for reports from doctors to trickle in," according to the editorial. FDA says Congress needs to increase funding and authority for the agency so it can require drug makers to conduct follow-up safety studies, but "[h]ow many more reports will collect dust on a shelf before FDA and Congress act?" the editorial asks.
Wal-Mart: "Unlike FDA," the editorial states, "Wal-Mart ... moves quickly to confound its critics and meet needs of customers." Wal-Mart has announced that next year it plans to offer 150 generic drugs at $4 for a 30-day supply in its pharmacies nationwide. According to the editorial, "Wal-Mart isn't being charitable. Even at $4, it expects to make money on generics and hopes to attract customers to buy other products." The editorial notes that the company's "size gives it the clout to create big changes in the marketplace," adding, "Stiff competition, coupled with tough negotiations with vendors to squeeze costs out of the system, are the best ways to hold down the cost of prescription drugs."
Doughnut hole: "Six weeks from the congressional elections, some Democrats are trying to make political hay of the fact that" more than three million U.S. residents could reach a gap in Medicare coverage known as the doughnut hole, the editorial states. Some Democrats have proposed "revamping" the Medicare program to fill the coverage gap, which "would be about as wise as eating a dozen Krispy Kremes," according to the editorial. Eliminating the coverage gap "could add hundreds of billions of dollars over 10 years to the program's already unaffordable costs," the editorial states, concluding, "Plans to fill the doughnut hole might sound tasty on the campaign trail but would worsen the nation's fiscal indigestion" (USA Today, 9/27).
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USA Today editorial Adresele Raport OIM, Wal-Mart, Medicare prescriptie Drug Benefit - USA Today Editorial Addresses IOM Report, Wal-Mart, Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate