By Sandra Block From Kiplinger’s Personal Finance If you’re enrolled in Medicare and spend a lot of money on prescription drugs, legislation enacted last summer could lower some of your expenses. The prescription-drug provisions in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act will be phased in over seven years, but some take effect as early as this…

Some beneficiaries of Medicare could start paying less for 27 prescription drugs from next month as their prices have exceeded the rate of inflation. “Today, the Department of Health and Human Services [HHS], through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), announced 27 prescription drugs for which Part B beneficiary coinsurances may be lower…

Commentary “As glasses help people focus their eyes to see,” medical experts from the American Academy of Pediatrics rule, “medications help children with ADHD focus their thoughts better and ignore distractions.” In their view, as well as in the view of multiple other expert consortiums, the most appropriate way to treat the “lifelong impairing condition”…

“One of the most perplexing aspects of the ubiquitous direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug advertisements is the seemingly endless recitation of side effects in drug ads,” cardiology expert Larry Husten stated in an opinion piece on MedPage Today. “The list is, alternatively, horrifying, boring, concerning, and silly. It is reasonable to wonder how these ads, with their interminable…

“One of the most perplexing aspects of the ubiquitous direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug advertisements is the seemingly endless recitation of side effects in drug ads,” cardiology expert Larry Husten stated in an opinion piece on MedPage Today. “The list is, alternatively, horrifying, boring, concerning, and silly. It is reasonable to wonder how these ads, with their interminable…

A B.C. nurse is under investigation for allegedly trafficking prescription drugs to inmates in a maximum security prison in the province, court documents show. A petition filed by the B.C. College of Nurse and Midwives (BCCNM) and obtained by CBC News, said the nurse was working at Kent Institution, B.C.’s only maximum security prison, located…

On average, one Epipen (an auto-injectable device) costs $775. Even the generic version will run you about $455. This is just a snapshot of what prescription drugs cost. Pharmaceuticals make up a big chunk of the average American’s health care costs, so finding the best ways to purchase them can be critical. But besides the…

Commentary Researchers associated with a prestigious teaching hospital released a sensationalistic and highly suspect study aimed at supporting Congressional legislation. The study, launched with an op-ed in the New York Times, points fingers at an evil, nebulous industry, yet forgets to note the researchers’ own role in exacerbating problems of drug affordability. Another day in partisan America….

Commentary Our umbrella review that revealed no links between serotonin and depression has caused shock waves among the general public, but has been dismissed as old news by psychiatric opinion leaders. This disjunction begs the questions of why the public has been fed this narrative for so long, and what antidepressants are actually doing if they are not reversing…

A study is indicating that a commonly prescribed class of drugs may substantially increase dementia risk. The drugs, known as anticholinergics, are used to treat a variety of conditions like bladder problems, depression, and Parkinson’s disease. They work by inhibiting the chemical messenger acetylcholine, helping to relax or contract muscles. The discovery was made through a…