Joe breathlessly informed me that he, Joe Courtney, wrangled us a deal. Cowboy hat tipped over his squinted, far-seeing eyes, Joe told us how he and his posse had a showdown with HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, presumably at high noon. Yep. Becerra blinked first and admitted that the Medicare B premium, which went up to cover the exorbitant cost of Aduhelm at $56,000.00 per patient per year, was too high. Since Aduhelm will actually cost half of that, the premium will come down. Joe got pretty shirty with poor Secretary Becerra over the whole matter and has a link and everything to a video so you can watch our hero at work. Of course, none of this was pre-planned or scripted to showcase Joe doing something besides packing up and delivering candy or rubber stamping his party’s policies and decisions. Who would think such a thing?

Of course, Joe confided, calculating how to do a refund is pretty tricky - dang math - so the government will keep collecting that higher premium for the rest of 2022 and drop the premium in 2023. Yes, millions and millions of “found” dollars. I kinda get the feeling that someone in DC actually understands all that money math pretty well, but apparently Joe’s not that guy and doesn’t know how to find one.

But wait there’s more! Before you rejoice over the lower cost of Aduhelm, what the heck is it? Glad you asked, because you need to know that we’re paying for a controversial drug to treat Alzheimer’s. Just five hours before this very minute as I write, Aduhelm is described as a failure. Seven days ago Biogen, maker of Aduhelm, yanked its application in Canada. These recent events follow a year of controversy surrounding the drug, and what some describe as a strange FDA approval.

So why is Medicare B paying for this drug at all? Because it will be used on elderly patients in clinical trials. Yes, we get to pay for a private company’s testing of a drug, which we will then buy from said private company, if it proves effective. Money on both sides. That’s how these things have been done for a while, we’ll be told. True. But does that make it right?

Here’s the worst part. Think of all the elderly patients in hospitals and nursing homes who don’t have family. And even if they do, many hospitals don’t allow visitors. With lots and lots of money at stake - even if the drug eventually fails at trial - we wonder how many elderly people might be experimented on without their or their families’ informed consent. Sadly, that type of testing has happened many times before.

Who will speak for vulnerable elderly people if the need arises? Not Joe. According to what he told us, Joe helped broker a deal to save us money on the experiment. He did not challenge the drug or mention protecting the elderly from exploitation, and he’s behind the curve. His ebullient email dropped as the negative coverage of Aduhelm gathered new steam.

We’re saying it louder, Joe: Go Home.

https://www.managedhealthcareexecutive.com/view/aduhelm-great-expectations-fizzle

https://endpts.com/biogen-yanks-its-aduhelm-application-in-canada-days-after-celebrating-the-drugs-1-year-anniversary-in-the-us/