Podcast Recommendation: Global Healthy Living Foundation "Healthcare Matters"

Although I have considered the idea, I don't necessarily envision myself as a podcaster, but I have found a number of different podcasts rather informative (some are also entertaining).

So I thought why don't I share some of the podcasts that I've learned from here?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First up is one from the Global Healthy Living Foundation https://ghlf.org/ which actually has several podcasts. The podcast I'm referring you to today is the podcast they refer to as "Healthcare Matters" https://ghlf.org/healthcarematters/, and more specifically an episode of that podcast entitled "S3, Ep 2 entitled "A Failed Promise: Why Are Patients Overpaying for Generic Medications?".

https://omny.fm/shows/healthcare-matters/s3-ep-2-a-failed-promise-why-are-patients-overpayi?in_playlist=podcast

 

The guest on this particular podcast is a man named Dr. Robert Popovian, PharmD, MS who is also the Chief Science Policy Officer for the nonprofit organization known as the Global Healthy Living Foundation. Dr. Popovian is also one of the foremost experts on the U.S. prescription drug business and how that works (including behind-the-scenes).

Dr. Robert Popovian, PharmD, MS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Popovian is a pharmacist, economist and a professor of pharmaceutical economics at the University of Southern California. I consider him one of the foremost experts on the subject. He co-authored an article published in STAT News entitled "PBMs are inflating the cost of generic drugs. They must be reined in"  (see the article at https://www.statnews.com/2022/06/30/pbms-inflating-cost-generic-drugs/ for more).

In the Healthcare Matters podcast, he's being honest when he cites research from USC (see a white paper at https://healthpolicy.usc.edu/research/overpaying-for-prescription-drugs/ for more) which revealed that 23% of the time, patients are likely to find it less costly to simply pay cash for certain generic prescription drugs rather than to use their insurance.

I've been bypassing my insurance for at least a few of the generic prescriptions used in my household. Bypassing insurance saved us 56%, 75% and 82% on three different drugs. One medicine, in particular, specifically the statin drug known as rosuvastatin calcium 10 mg tablets (generic Crestor tablets) is oddly overpriced. Most recently, I ended up patronizing the Mark Cuban CostPlus Drug Company and saved my family even more. Such pricing arbitrage is due to the Pharmacy Benefit Managers manipulating prices behind-the-scenes.

Anyway, this is likely to be the first of several informative podcasts I plan to share with my readers. I hope you find it informative.