THREAD

I wanna walk you through a big shift that's coming to the world of the drug #Remdesivir

@AnushaRoy9News will have more on this on @nexton9news today

In the meantime, let's talk about the drug. CO hospitals have, for weeks, been using supplies given to them by US govt

Basically, in a fairly large study, the drug shortened recovery time for #COVID19 by four days.

Colorado hospitals started receiving the drug in relatively large numbers back in May https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/29/gilead-announces-remdesivir-price-covid-19/

In June, the state reported more distribution.

Here's what the hospitals got:

(one patient often received 5 vials)

But last week (as expected) the giveaways officially came to an end

Colorado hospitals are "on the cusp" of running out of their supplies... which -- by the way -- was always part of the plan

Now, hospitals will start to directly purchase the drug from Gilead - the manufacturer

I only say this because now patients (and likely their insurance companies) will be on the hook for the drug.

And it's relatively expensive.

Gilead did try to intentionally price it at below the level of savings for hospitals.

https://stories.gilead.com/articles/an-open-letter-from-daniel-oday-june-29

But here's the rub...

Now Remdesivir is going back into the wacky, oftentimes nonsensical world of the US drug pricing market.

And that means... uh... well... this:

(statement from Gilead)

Yep... Medicaid pays $390.

Private insurance pays $520

FOR. THE. SAME. DRUG.

Now, I know, all of this is insanely rudimentary for those with specialized knowledge of the US health care system.

But most of us aren't keenly aware of the game and how it works.

Make no mistake. It's a game.

In our system, private insurers almost always pay more for the same service.

Whether it's a drug or a procedure or a device.

You just don't typically see it spelled out so nicely in a rx company press release:

"Because of the way the U.S. system is set up"

And here's the thing...

if the drug works as advertised... who's to say it's not worth the cost.

If it shortens hospital stays, it ABSOLUTELY is.

but this is the system for everything in US health care.

It's messy and it's gross and (I believe) intentionally complicated.