THE "NEW" PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK

For many years now, here in the USA, access to FDA-approved drugs for the treatment of cancer and other severe forms of disorder have been guaranteed under Medicare. The current administration here in the US is threatening to limit that access and place limitations on the ability of physicians to prescribe FDA-approved drugs to Medicare patients.

For more information in the short term, we would ask our US-based readers to review the information about protection of the “covered” status of cancer and other drugs under Medicare in the article on the “Protect Cancer, Antidepressant , Psych, Seizure, Transplant Rejection, and HIV-AIDS Drugs” initiative on the Change.org web site and to sign on to support this initiative.

It is important to appreciate that commercial insurers often follow Medicare’s lead with regard to coverage of cancer drugs, and so what Medic rae is able to do will certainly be seen as a green light to the commercial insurance industry.

Prostate Cancer International (PCaI) has formally decided to support this initiative, and we shall have more to say on this subject in the near future after further discussion with Cancer ABCs and other organizations.

Drugs are becoming increasingly expensive, and their rational use is important. However, it is also important to protect the idea that knowledgeable physicians and their patients should be able to use life-extending and life-saving drugs in an appropriate manner and not to be forced to go through complex administrative procedures and inappropriate “step therapies” based solely on the idea that this will save money … because that won’t help patients and it probably won’t save that much money either.

We have been through one round of governmental intervention in health care that was less than perfect (Obamacare), but at least it offered more patients the opportunity to have access to good quality healthcare. This new form of governmental intervention (henceforth to be known as Trumpcare) is going to reduce access to good quality healthcare (except for the very rich) without providing any obvious compensatory benefit.

Filed under: Management, Treatment | Tagged: access, advocacy, drug, FDA-approved, therapy |