December - 2017

The Coalition to

Protect Patient Choice

A Project

of the

Law Offices

of David Balto

Competitive healthcare is healthcare with choices

Advocacy on consumer healthcare competition issues aimed at lowering prescription drug costs

The Promise of Biosimilars

The Promise of Biosimilars

One of the least well-known but most promising areas of drug research is the creation of generic biologic medicines, or biosimilars. These drugs have great potential and often offer the best treatments for serious diseases such as cancer, HIV/AIDsS, rheumatoid arthritis, and heart disease. However, our current drug system is not adapted for them, and needs to be modified for our new era. What exactly are biologic medicines and biosimilars? Biologics are medicines extracted fr

The Luxottica-Essilor Merger is Looking Rather Strained

The Luxottica-Essilor Merger is Looking Rather Strained

In January 2017, the eyewear company Luxottica announced it would acquire Essilor, a large French company that produces ophthalmic lenses and other equipment, for $53 billion. The two companies were confident that they could merge without much trouble and that antitrust regulators would not be concerned. But their claims of a trouble-free acquisition look increasingly shaky. Last month the European Commission announced an in-depth review of the merger because it was concerned

As CHIP Funding Shortage Looms, States Are Increasingly Concerned

As CHIP Funding Shortage Looms, States Are Increasingly Concerned

On September 30th, funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which provides low-cost health coverage to children in families that earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid. The program is bipartisan enactment from the late 1990s and covers over nine million children and pregnant women. But as Congress shows no sign of reauthorizing funding, states are going to run out of money to provide health insurance, and they are getting increasingly worried. On Frida

An Unwanted Sequel: Merger of CVS and Aetna Would Raise Prices and Harm Consumers

An Unwanted Sequel: Merger of CVS and Aetna Would Raise Prices and Harm Consumers

There they go again. Yesterday, CVS Health announced it has agreed to build the health insurance company Aetna for $69 billion in a massive deal that combine drugstores, a PBM, and a health insurer into one mega-corporation. This deal would reshape the health care industry, create an utterly massive company, and raise prices and harm consumers. Like the proposed mergers of Anthem and Cigna and Aetna and Humana, this merger is bad news for everyone except a small minority of c

Featured Posts

United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)

United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)

Congress Bans Gag-Clauses on Pharmacists

Congress Bans Gag-Clauses on Pharmacists

Letter from David A. Balto on behalf of Consumer Action and CPPC to the Federal Trade Commission, re

Letter from David A. Balto on behalf of Consumer Action and CPPC to the Federal Trade Commission, re

The Promise of Biosimilars

The Promise of Biosimilars

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