WE HAVE FAITH but have lost our patience. As faith leaders with the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, we call on state leadership to rise up for healing by lowering the cost of prescription drugs, especially lifesaving drugs such as insulin, epipens, and asthma inhalers; eliminating out-of-network surprise billing; and increasing access to affordable mental health […]
Drugs
Posted inHealth Care, State House News Service
Medical marijuana vaping ban up in air
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WHEN THE CANNABIS CONTROL COMMISSION meets Thursday, it could determine whether Gov. Charlie Baker’s temporary ban on vaping product sales should apply to medical marijuana patients or whether to allow the prohibition on medical marijuana vapes to expire next week. A Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday that the emergency state regulations […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Judge allows Baker vaping ban to continue
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE IN A RULING critical of how Gov. Charlie Baker went about banning the sale of all vaping products for four months, a Superior Court judge on Monday allowed the administration’s full ban to stay in effect, but only until next week unless changes are made. The ruling left the governor’s ban […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Walsh flooding the Mass. and Cass zone
BOSTON MAYOR MARTY WALSH intends to flood the area around Melnea Cass Boulevard and Massachusetts Avenue with outreach workers, public works staff, and police officers in a bid to ease the impact of homelessness, drug abuse, and crime in a hard-hit neighborhood in the South End. The strategy, dubbed “Melnea Cass/Mass Ave 2.0,” aims to […]
Posted inHealth Care, Opinion
Stop the war on drug coupons
THROUGHOUT HISTORY, some revolutions ended up turning on the very people they claimed to be defending. With the calls to ban drug coupons, rebels against the drug industry in Massachusetts seem to be turning on patients themselves. Massachusetts is again considering a ban on drug coupons that significantly reduce out-of-pocket costs for patients, a ban […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Healey outlines refusal to settle Purdue Pharma lawsuit
ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY says she plans to continue to aggressively pursue litigation against Purdue Pharma, the company that made billions selling prescription painkiller OxyContin, despite the company filing for bankruptcy on Sunday, and its reaching a settlement worth billions with many state and local governments last week.  Healey said at a press conference Monday she refuses to take part in […]
Posted inOpinion
Strong action needed to rein in prescription drug costs
EVERYONE SHOULD BE ABLE TO count on having access to health care that is high quality and affordable. But even in Massachusetts, where we have the highest rate of health insurance of any state in the country, access to affordable care is out of reach for many people. One of the biggest drivers of increasing […]
Posted inOpinion
Insurers, pharmacy benefit managers driving up drug costs
IF WE EVER NEEDED MORE PROOF that insurers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are a major cost driver for the price of prescription drugs, we need look no further than what happened when President Trump and his Health and Human Services Secretary, Alex Azar, decided to withdraw their proposal to eliminate drug rebates under Medicare. […]
Posted inThe Download
Surgeons over-prescribed opioids, report says
Research suggests many opioid addictions start innocently, with pain pills prescribed in the wake of an injury or surgery. Much of the blame has fallen on opioid manufacturers, who convinced doctors that their products were safe and beneficial to their patients. But new research suggests that many doctors continued to over-prescribe opioids for their patients […]
Posted inUncategorized
Surgeons over-prescribed opioids, report says
RESEARCH SUGGESTS many opioid addictions start innocently, with pain pills prescribed in the wake of an injury or surgery. Much of the blame has fallen on opioid manufacturers, who convinced doctors that their products were safe and beneficial to their patients. But new research suggests that many doctors continued to over-prescribe opioids for their patients […]