Annie J. Ross-Womack Dispatch.com “For many patients, medicine would be unobtainable without assistance from third parties such as charities, churches, and drug manufacturer assistance programs,” Annie J. Ross-Womack Sickle cell disease is an inherited, rare, painful, and debilitating condition that affects thousands of Ohioans. Ohioans living with SCD are supported by a state program first…

Dr. Elisabeth S. Roter Cleveland.com Approximately one in four Ohioans live with arthritis – a painful and often debilitating condition that can be expensive to treat. Unfortunately, a policy too often used by health insurers is preventing thousands of Ohioans from being able to afford the medications that can help ease their pain. There is…

In the past month, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has sought financial information from the state’s five managed-care contractors, documents received in response to an open-records request show. The AG won’t discuss ongoing investigations, but he might be looking into whether some practices by subcontractors who manage pharmacy benefits violate state law or federal regulations.

Sara Sharpe, 34, has a pretty basic wish: She doesn’t want to suffer a potentially fatal allergic reaction “because of insurance company paperwork” foul-ups. She is one of millions nationwide caught up in a money-saving move by health insurance companies with the unwieldy name of “co-pay accumulators.” People in this diverse group, many suffering from rare diseases, are casualties of…

There’s been a lot of talk about ways to reduce the cost of prescription drugs. In last week’s State of the Union Address, for example, President Joe Biden proposed allowing Medicare to negotiate directly with drugmakers in an attempt to bring prices down.

In theory, the point of managed care is to save money by negotiating with providers for lower prices. So it would seem that the biggest managed-care providers would use their clout to negotiate the lowest prices from doctors and hospitals and for medicine…

Members of Congress last week took up an issue potentially of great importance: What to do about powerful health conglomerates who play an increasingly powerful role in the drug-supply chain…

At issue is whether “patient steering” can be discriminatory

Rules block patients from counting thousands in drug discounts toward health insurance deductible