Category Archives: Current Events

Despite what Pundits say, Inflation is NOT under Control.

Experts claim inflation is around 3 percent. No. It is much higher and becoming entrenched. Here’s why.

Background

On TV and in newspapers I constantly hear and read inflation is decreasing. An Associated Press article argued in the past year, inflation fell from 9% to near 3%. Prof. Paul Krugman (whose articles I love and regularly read in New York Times) has opined How (Many) Economists have missed the great Disinflation.

Disclaimer, I am not an economist and not schooled in multivariate analysis of prices and trends. But I can read the numbers on a bill and compare them to earlier ones. I find inflation is NOT under control and in some cases increasing.

Continue reading →

How Biogen’s Alzheimer’s Drug impacts our wallets, and sets a very dangerous Precedent

4 Replies

This was first published as an op-ed in the Buck’s County Courier Times, February 9, 2022.

I am a scientist and have worked in the pharmaceutical industry. I believe in and love science.

I am also a retired senior citizen, dependent on Social Security and Medicare. Hence, costs are important to me, especially that of medicines. Biogen’s antibody aducanumab — marketed as the brand name Aduhelm — for Alzheimer’s disease should not have been approved in the first place.

The approval process was torturous. Two large trials showed no convincing clinical benefit, that is, slowing patient’s cognitive decline. An independent advisory committee voted overwhelmingly against approval. Yet it was approved.

This raises some unpleasant questions. Why was it approved and who benefits? Not the patients. A famous line comes to mind, “Just follow the money.” There is a reason why people are increasingly skeptical about the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC; and what doctors say.

It was initially priced at $56,000 per annum, a totally outrageous price. It was later cut back to $28,200 which is interesting in itself. If Biogen can make a profit on this price, how or why did they initially charge $56,000? To fleece patients because they could? Obviously, Biogen is still making a tidy profit at the lower price.

The Medicare Part B premium was increased by $22 this year, of which $11 will be used to create a fund to pay for this drug. This is the first time one pricey drug has led to a premium increase for all Medicare recipients, not just affected patients.

Why? Because Aduhelm is given as an intravenous infusion in the doctor’s office. This has to stop or every pharmaceutical company that develops antibodies as drugs — there are many and it’s increasing — will be tempted to take this route.

I can almost visualize the ads on television. A well-dressed and well-groomed elderly person intoning in a rich baritone, “I can feel my memory improving after I started taking this. It makes me feel sharper and younger. It could do the same for you. Talk to your doctor.”

Very seductive indeed. Naturally, seeing these ads, seniors will rush to their doctors to clamor for it. And that, precisely, is the goal. Biogen makes a lot of money. Benefit for the patients? Very questionable.

And Medicare part B premiums will keep spiraling upward, $22 this year, then $50, maybe $150 the year after. Can retirees on a fixed income afford this increase, especially with inflation running rampant? And can Medicare keep up without raising taxes and/or cutting benefits?

The recent Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, CMS, decision is to pay only for CMS approved clinical trials with Aduhelm until its efficacy is clearly established is therefore necessary. This plan is nicely explained in Bach and Garthwaite’s (June 17) opinion piece.

Health care costs are bankrupting us. I am constantly amazed at the exhortations from our elected representatives to do something about it and then their inability to follow through. Maybe they cannot or probably will not.

But we can do a few things. First, start by writing or calling our elected representatives about this problem. They know but they need to hear our frustration. There needs to be political action. And second, try and maintain a healthy life style through diet and exercise. This will lead to fewer doctor visits and fewer medicines to take. We will benefit on many fronts. Save money and enjoy a better quality of life.

The Prolonged Rohingya Refugee Crisis: a Regional Solution

Leave a reply

The future is not looking good for the thousands of displaced Rohingyas. Last year, close to 600,000 escaped the pogrom unleashed by the Myanmar army aided by machete wielding Buddhist neighbors and escaped to Bangladesh swelling the numbers already there.

Continue reading →

Controlling uncontrolled Heathcare Costs: Trubamacare (Trump-Obama Care)

Leave a reply

The Republican controlled house has finally delivered on its promise to ‘repeal and replace’ the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. They have ramrodded the American Health Care Act, (let’s call it Trumpcare, a counterpoint to Obamacare) through the House and it now sits as a steaming, smelly pile on the Senate’s polished, antique table. A lot has been said and written comparing the two plans. In this post I will concentrate on the following two salient points which tend to get lost in the punditry:

Both deal with how the costs are shared among the different categories of recipients, e.g. the young, the old and the ones with preexisting conditions.
Neither of them deal with the fundamental problem facing our health care system: the uncontrolled burgeoning of health care costs.

Continue reading →

A Survey of International Hotspots under President Trump

Leave a reply

The Trump presidency in fast approaching its 100 day mark. It is time for a quick appraisal of its performance in office. Trump ran on his appeal as a ‘take charge, decisive CEO’ who would rapidly solve all or most of our problems. He started with a travel ban from certain countries followed by ‘repeal and replace Obamacare”. Those did not turn out as expected. But soon international events, some unexpected, overtook domestic policies. I will group the hotspots into two main theaters based on their geography.

Russia, Syria, ISIS and the Middle East

It seemed that under President Trump, a gradual rapprochement with Russia was underway. It would become our partner in combating ISIS. Sadly, that dream went up in smoke as cruise missiles slammed into an airfield in Syria and the FBI continues its investigation into possible collusion of Trump’s election team with Russia during the election of 2016. The chemical attack by President Assad on civilians was ghastly, horrific and contrary to all norms of civilized conduct, in 2013, 2017 and on all the other occasions. Perhaps Trump was genuinely moved by pictures of children gasping for breath or dead babies seemingly asleep, cradled in their father’s arms in Khan Shaykun. Perhaps he wanted to differentiate himself from Obama as a decisive leader who would not hesitate to act if someone crossed a red line. So, he put Assad, Russia, North Korea and the whole world on notice with the missile barrage on Shayrat airbase in Syria. An opening gambit.

But, a salvo does not a strategy make. What is the next step? What are the plans for Syria, for dealing with ISIS and the entire Middle East? The Russians were warned before the attack and this time they quietly stood aside, but they won’t the next time. Relationship with Russia, a nuclear armed power, is at an all-time low since after the cold war and it continues to bolster Assad and his grip on power. This is to Russia’s advantage. Assad gives Russia a secure footprint in the region, airfields, a warm water port in the Mediterranean and a steady stream of refugees that continue to destabilize Europe and NATO, Putin’s dream.

It is not clear if there is a coherent plan for Syria, ISIS and the Middle East in general. We need clarity on:

Can there be a peaceful solution for Syria with Assad in power? If he is displaced, what are the plans for managing the aftermath? Remember Iraq after Saddam Hussain!
What are the plans post ISIS? Once they are driven from Raqqa and other strongholds, what are the plans for a peaceful, inclusive civilian government and who is responsible for ensuring that those places do not degenerate into sectarian violence. The lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan are still fresh in our minds.
Is the US getting gradually sucked into a Middle East quagmire again? We hear of more and more boots being sent to Syria and of our (not so well advertised) involvement in Yemen, a country at the other end of the peninsula. In Afghanistan, next door to Iran, the war is in its 16^th year. There, we just dropped a MOAB, the largest non-nuclear bomb in the world. This bomb has been in our arsenal for quite a while but Presidents before Trump had carefully avoided using it. So, what was the reason for using it now?

The USA should not and cannot afford to be the policeman of the world. This is the platform Trump ran on in 2016. This is still true. But history has taught us that unexpected events do happen. Sometimes, after diplomacy and all other options have been thoroughly exhausted, we may have to take extreme measures when our security or those of our allies are directly threatened. But a military solution should not become a reflexive habit just because we have an overwhelming military capability. War should always be the very last resort.

China and North Korea

China is the second largest economy (after the US) and these two economies are inextricably linked. During the election Trump had repeated incessantly that China would be labeled a ‘currency manipulator’ and China would be taken to task for stealing jobs from the US. Now, after dinner with President Xi at Mar-A-Lago, President Trump has reversed his opinion regarding currency manipulation. He now needs China’s help to restrain North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

North Korea is perhaps the most acute problem in Trump’s inbox but unfortunately with very few solutions, all bad ones. North Korea is rapidly building up its nuclear arsenal and rockets including solid fuel ICBMs that can theoretically reach the United States. That is indeed alarming. However, threatening a volatile, insecure, young dictator like Kim Jong Un with an aircraft career strike force may not be a good idea. He could retaliate unpredictably and preemptively. Seoul is just 35 miles away, within range of his conventional artillery and his huge army is poised just across the DMZ.

China shares a land border with North Korea, is its biggest trading partner and the only country that has the best chance of persuading North Korea to change course. Here again, instead of saber rattling, a diplomatic solution with all the regional powers, China being the predominant one, is needed.

President Trump is clearly learning on the job. That is not necessarily a bad thing. What is disquieting is how diametrically opposite some of his current views are from what he said during the election. What were those statements based on? That is a fair question. And what would his ardent, vociferous supporters who cheered him then, think now? I am just curious.