Sara Sirota

New York

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Articles

Why We Should Ban PBM Rebates

Feb 13, 2024 | economicliberties.us | Sara Sirota

I. Introduction In December 2021, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform published a report on the rising cost of brand drugs.[1] The report showed a troubling dynamic in the market for glatiramer acetate, an essential medication used to treat relapsing multiple sclerosis. Despite the availability of cheaper generic alternatives starting in 2017, Teva Pharmaceuticals’ brand version of the drug, Copaxone, retained a dominant market position and high list price.
On The New ICBM's Budgeting Woes and The Risks of Sole-Source Contracting (and Nuclear War)

Jan 22, 2024 | thefat.substack.com | Sara Sirota

Not many people know the Defense Department is building a brand new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system to replace the Cold War-era Minuteman III. The Sentinel, as it’s called, will feature more than 650 individual missiles armed with upgraded nuclear warheads carrying 300-475 kilotons of TNT. That has an explosive yield about 20-31 times more than the “Little Boy” atomic bomb the U.S. detonated on Hiroshima in 1945, killing an estimated 70,000-140,000 people.
Hamdorf v. United Healthcare Services

Jan 18, 2024 | thefat.substack.com | Sara Sirota

The competition to run the Kansas Medicaid program starting in 2025 has begun, and it is like no other in the state’s history. New contracts will be announced in April, the first ones awarded under a Democratic administration since Kansas privatized its Medicaid program in 2013.
UnitedHealth’s self-dealing is accelerating

Jan 12, 2024 | wendellpotter.substack.com | Sara Sirota

UnitedHealth Group’s internal revenue streams totalled $138 billion in 2023, up more than 25% compared to last year. It’s doing more business with itself than ever before. When its insurance division pays for an enrollee to visit a primary care physician it employs, despite having alternative options with competing practices, one subsidiary is simply reimbursing another. There are a number of reasons why such transactions, in any industry, could be logical–and are legal.
Building a Giant

Dec 20, 2023 | prospect.org | Krista Brown |Sara Sirota

This article is a co-publication with HEALTH CARE un-covered, a website about the health insurance industry. It is available at wendellpotter.substack.com. “Things changed after Optum took over.” That was the statement of a case manager with naviHealth, a technology company that used predictive algorithms to manage post-acute care for Medicare Advantage patients.
The Dirty Secret of Drug Shortages

Oct 19, 2023 | economicliberties.us | Sara Sirota

Every hospital needs to have lidocaine injection in stock. Doctors use this local anesthetic to relieve the pain of patients who are in labor, receiving stitches, or having a catheter inserted. First discovered in the 1940s, lidocaine has been deemed so crucial that the World Health Organization includes it in its List of Essential Medicines. Yet in the U.S., lidocaine has been in continuous shortage since 2011.
Health Care’s Intertwined Colossus

Aug 2, 2023 | prospect.org | Sara Sirota

This article appears in the August 2023 issue of The American Prospect magazine. Subscribe here. “Do I enjoy being king? Yes, that’s fun,” said Richard Burke in 1987. He had spent over ten years running a health care nonprofit in Minneapolis called Physicians Health Plan (PHP), and also UnitedHealth, the for-profit company that was managing it. In 1986, the nonprofit paid him $267,823; the for-profit, $418,342, not including stock options.
PBMs are modern-day drug price gangsters and must be held accountable

Apr 29, 2023 | athensmessenger.com | Sara Sirota

In March, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a groundbreaking lawsuit challenging the coercive tactics of the shadowy, modern-day health care mafia known as pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). You may not have heard of PBMs before, but they play a critical role in controlling which medications your insurer covers.
PBMs are modern-day drug price gangsters and must be held accountable | Opinion

Apr 27, 2023 | penncapital-star.com | Sara Sirota

By Sara SirotaIn March, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a groundbreaking lawsuit challenging the coercive tactics of the shadowy, modern-day health care mafia known as pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). You may not have heard of PBMs before, but they play a critical role in controlling which medications your insurer covers.
The Harms of Hospital Mergers and How to Stop Them

Apr 26, 2023 | economicliberties.us | Sara Sirota

In 2019, HCA Healthcare, the country’s largest hospital chain, bought nonprofit hospital system Mission Health of western North Carolina. Mission’s CEO, Ronald Paulus, described the move as “a tremendous win for the people and communities we serve.”[1] The for-profit HCA has 185 hospitals and 1,800 clinics across the United States and United Kingdom, and its $1.5 billion acquisition included facility improvements, expanded charity care, and protections for rural communities.