1. Historic Negotiations With Big Pharma Will Lower Drug Prices and Save $1.5 Billion for US Consumers–and More
It is well-documented that Americans have been paying a lot more for prescription drugs than people in any other developed nation, but this week the White House completed “negotiations” with ‘Big Pharma’ that will finally lower those prices for millions of seniors on Medicare.
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which passed in the Senate after a tie-breaking vote by the vice president, will not only save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs for seniors, it will also save the nation’s Medicare system $6 billion—in the first year alone.
Millions of seniors and those with disabilities on Medicare will see their drug costs go down on some of the most common and expensive prescription drugs that treat heart disease, cancer, diabetes, blood clots, and more.
The Department of Health and Human Services reached agreements with the pharmaceutical manufacturers of 10 different drugs which have surged in price since they went on the market. Some of the new prices, like two for diabetes, are being slashed by up to 79 percent, for those with Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage.
2. Fund for Library Set Ablaze by Rioters Raises Over $250,000 for Books and Repairs
Over 11,000 small donors have managed to raise £245,000 ($270,000) to repair a library in Liverpool that was set partially ablaze during a spate of violent acts of disorder that took place in England and Belfast last week.
Called Spellow Hub, the library had recently been transformed into a community space with job training and outreach activities for some of the most disadvantaged parts of Liverpool, but the rioting left the whole of the ground floor badly burned.
“I always loved to read as a child and seeing a library and community space destroyed broke my heart,” the fundraiser’s organizer, 27-year-old Alex McCormick told the Guardian. “I felt helpless and wanted to do something to help and thought fundraising would be a nice way to replace some of the books lost in the fire.”
McCormick described herself as being “overwhelmed with the response and the sense of community,” and by the time she had spoken with the British paper the fundraiser already accumulated £120,000.
An update posted on Monday announced that work had already started to restore the Spellow Hub to its former joy.
3. Babies Don’t Come with Manuals–But in Oregon, They Now Come With a Nurse
Oregon has recently become the first state in the US to offer free nurse visits to new mothers and fathers statewide.
No one can deny that the United States and its citizens have an array of problems and are facing major challenges, but one which isn’t well reported on is the high rates of death among infants and new mothers compared to other high-income countries.
Oregon’s home visit program called Family Connects is based on a successful model deployed in Durham, North Carolina, and involves a nurse visiting the home of a mother who has just given birth, whether to her first child or her fifth, up to three times in the first month.
Family Connects is an opt-in program that comes at no cost to the family, and the nurse is empowered to ‘connect’ the family with any additional service they may need, whether that’s counseling, psychiatric care, financial assistance, or even, as NPR reports, a hearing aid for a grandparent who’s looking after the child.
State Senator Dr. Elizabeth Steiner championed the program. A family physician, Dr. Steiner wasn’t in charge of creating it or setting policy, but advocated for it in the government. She remembers developing severe post-partum depression after the birth of her daughter, and thought that if one of the Family Connects nurses had visited her, it would have been an enormous help.
