New York, NY (PRWEB) October 08, 2014
The Center for Medicine in the Public Interest (CMPI.org– a non-profit research organization specializing in promoting medical innovation) criticized CBS’ “60 Minutes” segment on cancer treatment prices as not just distorted but ‘dead wrong.’ “‘60 Minutes’ ignores the contribution new medicines make in reducing health care costs, improving wellbeing and saving lives,” said Robert Goldberg, Vice President for Research of CMPI. “Featuring physicians that argue that treatment prices are too high does not change the fact that the cost of cancer drugs are about 12 percent of what health insurers spend on cancer or that new cancer drugs actually save health insurers money. Yet insurers are increasing oral therapy cost-sharing requirements to actively encourage patients to use infusible products.
While a Milliman study found that shifting to co-insurance would only add about $2 per member per month in private health plans, 60 Minutes never discusses this solution. Instead, 60 Minutes remains silent about the cost shifting and has never advocated for co-pay reforms that could relieve the burden on patients.
Spending on cancer treatments has climbed from $24 billion in 2004 to about $40 billion today. But such treatments represent only 0.6 percent of U.S. healthcare spending, and that proportion has been fairly consistent for the last several decades.
Such medical innovations were largely responsible for a 40 percent increase in cancer survivors (from 9.8 million to 13.6 million) since 2004. Since 2004 the use of new therapies saved $188 billion on hospitalizations, and avoided nearly $100 billion in lost productivity each year. Since 1990, new cancer drugs have helped generate 51 additional years of life, worth nearly $5 trillion.
A doubling in the use of new-targeted therapies will raise the amount spent on medicines as a percentage of total health care spending. But that increase must always be compared to what would be spent on healthcare, disability, unemployment and rehabilitation in the absence of medical innovation.
Peter Pitts, the President and Co-Founder of CMPI noted, “New medicines almost always reduce the cost of living longer and healthier lives and increase the value of such improvements. It is disappointing that “60 Minutes” failed to investigate why some health plans have deliberately made these innovations unaffordable by requiring patients to pay up to half their costs. And it is disheartening to know that doctors are more interested in attacking innovators than in defending patients from such cost shifting.”
Pitts also remarked, “We are happy to talk about the prices of cancer therapies, but only in the context of value and the rising cost and prices of other healthcare services that constitute a substantially bigger portion of total spending. In addition, the discussion should only be in the context of what can and should be done to cut the cost of developing new therapies through smarter, faster regulation.”
CMPI has a website—valueofmedicalinnovation.org—that provides a balanced view of the role new medicines play in our lives.
About the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest
The Center for Medicine in the Public Interest is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational organization that seeks to advance the discussion and development of patient-centered health care.