January 07, 2008

Here's a quick round-up of health care articles to peruse while you're still coming to grips with Monday morning.

The Wall Street Journal editors explain why "progressives" can't stand Obama's health care plan - it lacks an individual mandate. On the same page, Matthew Collier and Lisa Walsh, two partners at Bain & Co., explain how the insurance industry can flourish by focusing on sales to individual consumers. Investor's Business Daily explains why the pharmaceutical industry is retrenching in the face of expanded generic competition, weak drug pipelines, and a risk-averse FDA.

Speaking of the FDA, the Star-Ledger reports that a public-private foundation designed to help the FDA improve drug safety and drug development science is under siege by critics who view it as an industry front group.

In the blogosphere, In the Pipeline takes issue with the PLoS Medicine article on marketing costs in the pharmaceutical industry.

Last, but far from least, the news division of the Wall Street Journal reports on how the John Edwards campaign is making political hay of an insurers decision to turn down a liver transplant for a leukemia patient in a coma, who later died.

In a nutshell, the health care news and commentary can be summed up in two words: change and anxiety. Change is coming down the pike, driven by the presidential election and unease with the health care status quo, and it is making everyone nervous.

Posted by Paul Howard at January 7, 2008 09:57 AM

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