Research Library

The Commission on Combatting Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis appointed by President Trump released its report on Monday, July 31. Drug policy fellow Katharine Neill Harris assesses the commission's recommendations in the Baker Institute Blog.

High cancer drug prices reduce access to therapy, cause treatment abandonment and financial bankruptcies, as well as severe emotional and family distress.

The 340B Drug Pricing Program, which allows uninsured or low-income patients to buy prescription drugs at discounted prices, is under attack.

In this commentary, the authors examine the roots of the United States’ reluctance to embrace universal health care, concluding that it "is neither sound nor ethical in a nation that promulgates fairness and equal opportunity" to deny coverage.

The Supreme Court handed down a 5-4 ruling on the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby case Monday, allowing some for-profit companies to opt out of paying for certain contraceptives for their employees. Elena Marks, president and CEO of the Episcopal Health Foundation and Baker Institute nonresident fellow in health policy, offered her insights on the ruling and how it will impact implementation of the Affordable Care Act, women’s access to reproductive care and future court cases.

Cancer drug shortages are almost uniquely associated with generic drugs (small profit margins) and rarely with patented drugs (large profit margins). They are common in the U.S., but uncommon in Europe and elsewhere, where generic drug prices are on average higher than in the U.S. This suggests the main cause of drug shortages is economic.

Baker Institute health policy experts Hagop M. Kantarjian and Vivian Ho explain why Texas, which holds the notorious record of the highest rate of uninsured citizens in the U.S., should follow many Republican-led states that are now reconsidering the Medicaid expansion program under Obamacare.

The technical problems plaguing the health exchange roll-out came without warning, and health policy scholar Elena Marks, an advocate of health care reform, is not happy about it. Read her Oct. 25, 2013, blog.