At the start of 2022, there’s renewed hope that President Biden’s social spending and climate policy bill can survive in some form. In this episode, we explore three of the bill’s shortcomings and how it impacts patients.

"Some estimates say that we spend more on administrative burden in the US marketplace than actually pay for pharmaceuticals in the US market, which is astounding to me," says Dr. Robert Popovian, Chief Science Policy Officer at the Global Healthy Living Foundation.

Some highlights in this episode:

1:02: Listener review

2:58: What is rebate contracting and why is it important?

3:50: What else can be done about Medicare to help negotiate drug prices?

5:29: A big mess was the federal government not mandating audit rights to see where money is flowing in order to help patients

6:11: Transparency in the supply chain

6:47: What is outcome based contracting and why would it help patients?

7:17: Pharma companies need to explain their pricing models in a transparent manner

8:39: Examining administrative burdens in healthcare

9:09: “Some estimates say that we spend more on administrative burden in the US marketplace than actually pay for pharmaceuticals in the US market, which is astounding to me” says Robert Popovian

10:26: What the Build Back Better Act misses

10:53: Robert shares his final thoughts on this legislation.

Contact our hosts:

Dr. Robert Popovian, Chief Science Policy Officer at GHLF: rpopovian@ghlf.org

Conner Mertens, Patient Advocate and Community Outreach Manager at GHLF: cmertens@ghlf.org

We want to hear what you think. Send your comments, or a video or audio clip of yourself to Healthcarematters@GHLF.org.

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