@sarahkarlin-smith.bsky.social
Research Director at Public Citizen's Access to Medicines program. Former journalist covering intersection of pharma, health policy & politics. On Signal at SarahKarlinSmith.34 Views are mine.
New poll: the Democratic Party currently holds the advantage when it comes to who voters trust to address the cost of health care, including prescription drugs.
www.kff.org/public-opini...
they also recently complained on a public listserv that a new pedestrian area was a ugly heat island. The area was always concrete it just used to be for cars and they want car access again. ....so they want an uglier heat island.
a person in my area who is describes themself as an avid cyclist who rides for exercise was the leader of an anti bike lane movement. they saw bike riding as a trails in parks type thing and not a mode of transit.
It’s not all that difficult to imagine a dystopia where people (employers?) could buy background checks that include “health profiles” if these data remain unregulated
Really needed a good nights sleep and the city decided to do incredibly loud roadwork outside my building.
Driver, after night of barhopping, kills pedestrian & leaves scene. His father is big NJ political powerbroker.
Hours before governor leaves office, jury finds him guilty of leaving scene. Judge sends him to jail. But before he walks out of courtroom, pardon arrives.
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/n...
there are plenty of people with small kids who rely primarily on transit and bikes. Some out of choice. Some out of economic necessity. plenty of people that cannot physically drive a car.
Now that federal and state governments are writing laws and regulations to crack down on rebates & spread pricing, PBMs are predicted to make up for the lost revenue by imposing larger fees on employer-sponsored health plans and drugmakers when they draw up contracts with clients.
that’s terrible. I have had insurance plans that basically force you into their mail order and it can be a mess.
"It feels like we're not human." 1,100 Afghan refugees, mostly women & kids, are trapped on a disused military base w/ Iranian missiles raining down overhead after Pres.Trump froze refugee visas. We secretly spoke w/ them; they have no shelters & are begging to be rescued
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
Take note of when media reports assign agency to drivers instead of just saying "car" or "van"
NEW: Title X clinics around the country that provide contraception, cancer screening etc. to more than 2mil low income people could see their federal funding cut off in a few weeks. HHS was supposed to give clinics guidance months ago about reapplying for funding, but it's been "radio silence."
There are plenty of reasons to believe that the U.S. can pay less for drugs without other countries paying more and without sacrificing innovation.
Some good info in our recent letter to Pfizer's CEO:
www.citizen.org/article/publ...
This is an interesting statement given headline and thrust of story:
"[CEO] said it is unclear if Japanese officials explicitly considered Trump’s policy in their closed-door decision-making process, but the outcome suggests a shift in the government’s stance.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
I was in a 2 hour briefing today on the Iran War. All the briefings are closed, because Trump can't defend this war in public.
I obviously can't disclose classified info, but you deserve to know how incoherent and incomplete these war plans are.
1/ Here's what I can share:
"When companies generate profit margins far exceeding those of most other industries, it inevitably raises questions about whether the system is serving patients—or maximizing shareholder returns.
That tension is becoming harder to ignore."
worldofdtcmarketing.com/pharma-deser...
“It’s not an abstract projection. I believe it’s a clinical emergency. It’s happening now,” he said. “It’s closing our wards, it’s delaying surgeries, and it’s killing patients."
When people say lower drug prices will harm innovation, it is important to ask if our current system incentivizes the innovation we truly need...
"The findings highlight a mismatch between business incentives and public health needs." #healthpolicy
www.statnews.com/2026/03/10/d...
Biden-Era Law Linked to Improved Medication Adherence in Medicare
www.medpagetoday.com/publichealth...
Is there something more going on here than flagged in story? does this risk stratification stuff really lead to some kind of savings for insurers wroth giving city $100m/year? Or what else might payers do with this info? #healthpolicy
www.politico.com/news/2026/03...
“Think about that for a moment: a six-year-old child with a disability suddenly in a different country, separated from the country he has come to know, now surrounded by silence. The horror stories from this White House continue from ICE.”
Americans aren’t going bankrupt from their cancer treatment because Europeans are getting the same treatment for less. They are going broke so pharma CEOs can get their multi-million dollar paydays, and they are going broke so pharma can enrich shareholders w/ billions in dividends & stock buybacks.
NEW: In January the Trump administration released new dietary guidelines that prompted the consumption of red meat and full-fat dairy products.
Federal lobbying disclosures reveal that the meat and dairy industries spent big money lobbying USDA and HHS, which were responsible for the guidelines.
Pfizer threatened to hold Rx drugs hostage from France. Don't let pharma pit the U.S. vs. the world.
Americans pay too much for drugs. But that is not Europe's fault, or responsibility. It is PHARMAS! Pharma can afford to sell its meds to Americans for less, without harming others & innovation.
“This is no longer just a human rights violation. It is truly anti-human behaviour.”
“Tehran is burning. And smoke has filled the streets. It’s impossible to drive out of the city right now and even with the windows closed, heavy smoke is making its way inside."
Read every word.
Changing the clocks is always a good time to remind people that the entire concept of regulating time by clocks was driven by British colonial efforts to regulate labor practices & extract wealth from the colonies using railways (which required coordination). The clock has continued to play ...
my in-laws got my kids bitzees and they seem like tamagotchis for the next generation. I’m a little afraid.
thanks. sounds a bit like how my husband more unofficially navigates grocery shopping.
what is a too good to go bag?