Joshua Cohen

Many Medicare Cancer Patients Now Have Much Lower Out-Of-Pocket Costs Medicare beneficiaries who were once heavily burdened financially and sometimes abandoned scripts due to cost can now (re)start and stay on their medication regimen.

The wholesale redesign of the Medicare outpatient benefit (Part D) under the Inflation Reduction Act has made "financial toxicity" (out-of-pocket cost burden) much less of an issue for Medicare patients with cancer.
www.forbes.com/sites/joshua...

15-Year Long Stagnant Life Expectancy Trend In U.S. Continues Experts across the political divide agree that addressing stagnant life expectancy requires government funding of a wide range of initiatives that affect public health.

Experts across the political divide agree that addressing stagnant life expectancy requires sustained government funding of a wide range of initiatives that affect public health.
www.forbes.com/sites/joshua...

Novel Access Model For Sickle Cell Disease Gene Therapy Could Be Template If successful, the access model for sickle cell disease gene therapies could serve as a blueprint for other such treatments that have faced major patient access barriers.

If successful, novel access model in Medicaid for sickle cell disease gene therapy could be a blueprint for future cell and gene treatments.
www.forbes.com/sites/joshua...

RFK Jr.’s Possible Purge Of Panel On Preventive Care Could Affect You The Task Force submits recommendations that determine which preventive care services and technologies insurers must cover. Disruptions to the panel may impact coverage.

The USPSTF comprises a group of 16 unpaid experts who examine evidence re: preventive care services and technologies and provide recommendations that determine what is covered by insurers at no charge to patients. It appears RFK Jr. wants to overhaul the Task Force.
www.forbes.com/sites/joshua...

RFK Jr.'s False Claims On Aluminum In Vaccines Could Lead To A Ban Unlike thimerasol, only used in a small percentage of flu jabs, many types of vaccines contain aluminum. This means that banning its use may have major implications.

RFK Jr. wants to examine aluminum salts in vaccines. He's made dubious claims regarding their use in vaccines as recently as a few days ago. The implications of a potential ban could be huge.
www.forbes.com/sites/joshua...

Vought has a daughter with cystic fibrosis, a serious disease with a lot of unmet need. She's on a treatment that in part owes its existence to NIH funding.
I wish Vought's daughter well.
But I do NOT understand her father's attempts to gut critical research. He seems hell-bent on wrecking the NIH.

The USPSTF focuses exclusively on preventive healthcare services and technologies. It does NOT conduct technology/Rx drug appraisals the way NICE does. In the US, we don't have anything like NICE, though a private entity called ICER does analogous assessments which often make use of QALYs.

RFK Jr's Vaccine Policies Could Undermine Coverage — and Trust A series of recent changes could have significant implications for how Americans receive and pay for their shots.

Under RFK Jr., U.S. vaccine policy is shifting. Subtle and not-so-subtle changes are underway that could undermine public trust and lead to reduced insurance coverage.
undark.org/2025/07/24/r...

It's a combination of:
- Accept alternate realities
- Say no to experts
- Be sadistic
I understand the desire to secure borders and to deport violent criminals who've entered the US illegally. But what Homan is doing goes far beyond that. He is a cruel, vengeful man who needs mental health treatment

The guy is a rapist.
Americans re-elected him despite knowing how repulsive he is as a human.
I can never forgive this country for that. I've lost respect for the U.S. Not because I'm a leftist. Far from it. I'm centrist/moderate on policy. Rather, Americans voting him back into office disgusts me.

Agree.
It's not.
And there's an element of taxation without representation. DOGE isn't/wasn't elected, confirmed by the Senate, or held accountable by anyone. Some of the president's actions regarding budget cuts have bypassed Congress.

I used to think our (US) system of government was the best. I no longer do. I lived for many years in Northern Europe. My experiences there made me learn to appreciate parliamentary democracies. While their strength isn't stability (governments often fall), they are more accountable and competent.

The executive branch is barely held accountable. Presidents and those they appoint can lie at will. During the president's fixed term in office, it's rare that anyone faces any consequences. There's no PMQ like in the UK or motions of no confidence in Congress to (potentially) unseat the government.

Joshua P. Cohen - Joshua Cohen Joshua P. Cohen's stories. Joshua Cohen is a Boston-based writer who covers health policy.

On Forbes, each contributor has a link that contains all the articles posted on the platform. The listing is chronological. You'll find my very latest pieces at the top and earlier ones if you scroll down.
www.forbes.com/sites/joshua...

Laura, I no longer hear you on WCRB. I'm saddened by this. Your show was my wake-up call. I knew that all was well with the world when listening to Laura Carlo on WCRB.

But was she let go? Or did she retire?
Either way, she should have been given a proper farewell, as you say.
I'm quite upset that she's not on the air anymore. A great voice and fantastic person.

Did Laura Carlo retire? There was no farewell. Or perhaps I missed it.
I so miss hearing her on WCRB.
She and Cathy Fuller have the best radio voices I've ever heard.

How RFK Jr. Could Disrupt Insurance Coverage Of Preventive Healthcare While the ruling preserves the Task Force's current structure and ensures its recommendations remain valid, it offers Kennedy broad latitude to reshape what’s covered.

RFK Jr.'s canceling of this month's United States Preventive Services Task Force meeting suggests it could face a similar fate to what happened to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. www.forbes.com/sites/joshua...

RFK Jr.’s Planned Campaign On Ultra-Processed Foods To Face Challenges Aside from opposition from the food industry, success of RFK Jr.'s campaign on ultra-processed foods hinges on how effective it is in altering ingrained dietary habits.

For once, I wish journalists would challenge Trump administration officials with follow-up questions. In this case, ask Oz about the numerous guidelines and campaigns over the years - most visibly, Michelle Obama's - focused on diet. They've all faced hurdles. www.forbes.com/sites/joshua...

That's not true.
It was mandatory in certain employment and educational settings.
I wasn't opposed to such mandates, but do understand that some folks found such rules problematic.
What Dr Moore did though was unlawful on multiple levels. The kind of fraud he committed is criminal.

Peculiar article.
- Ignores the fact that public health spending as a share of overall healthcare expenditures had been hollowed out for decades, prior to Covid
- Pretends the US imitated Chinese lockdowns
- Implies that combating domestic violence and firearm deaths is somehow ideologically liberal

Agree.
Media reports on Biden ought to juxtapose his insularity with the alternative at that moment (6/2024) which was objectively worse.
As someone who craves attention, Trump wants to be in the news cycle 24/7. That's not good. Presidents should be judged on what they do, not how open they are.

RFK Jr.’s Planned Campaign On Ultra-Processed Foods To Face Challenges Aside from opposition from the food industry, success of RFK Jr.'s campaign on ultra-processed foods hinges on how effective it is in altering ingrained dietary habits.

While there's support for RFK Jr.'s campaign against ultra-processed foods, history of public health initiatives on nutrition shows that it will face considerable challenges.
www.forbes.com/sites/joshua...

How RFK Jr. Could Disrupt Insurance Coverage Of Preventive Healthcare While the ruling preserves the Task Force's current structure and ensures its recommendations remain valid, it offers Kennedy broad latitude to reshape what’s covered.

RFK Jr. may disrupt insurance coverage of certain preventive healthcare services, in addition to possibly undermining the public and scientific community's trust. If changes to ACIP are an indication of how RFK operates, he could do something similar to the USPSTF.
www.forbes.com/sites/joshua...

To Avoid Government Action, Insurers Promise Prior Authorization Fixes Insurance companies may be promising fixes to prior authorization to preempt government action that would attempt to curb use of the management tool.

Prior authorization isn't liked by patients and healthcare providers alike. Insurers say they will reform the protocols. The federal government warns it will take action if they don't.
www.forbes.com/sites/joshua...

Twice Yearly HIV Prevention Shot, Yeztugo, May Face Access Hurdles Yeztugo is the first and only twice-yearly PrEP option to prevent HIV. It offers a more convenient option than a daily pill. But it may face insurance access challenges.

Newly approved HIV prevention (PrEP) shot may face insurance hurdles.
www.forbes.com/sites/joshua...

MAHA’s Focus On Improving Nutrition Is At Odds With Trump Policies RFK Jr. says his focus is chronic disease prevention, with an emphasis on nutrition. But several key Trump administration policies seem inconsistent with this objective.

MAHA nutrition goals at odds with Trump administration policies.
www.forbes.com/sites/joshua...

Rise In Teen Use Of Nicotine Pouches In U.S. Has Some Experts Alarmed The FDA has endorsed ZYN products for sale as a harm reduction measure to help smokers quit. Nonetheless, rising ZYN usage among youth concerns public health experts.

The rise in teen use of ZYN nicotine pouches has some experts concerned.
www.forbes.com/sites/joshua...

Smoking Cessation Aid Cytisinicline Could Soon Get FDA Approval Besides nicotine replacement therapies, the FDA has only approved two smoking cessation drugs without nicotine. This may change soon if cytisinicline gets approved.

The smoking cessation toolkit could get a boost soon in the form of an FDA approval of cytisinicline.
www.forbes.com/sites/joshua...

How Pharmaceutical Tariffs Could Worsen Generic Drug Shortages Public health experts say tariffs would likely mean higher prices of branded and generic pharmaceuticals and perhaps most importantly, worsening generic drug shortages.

Pharmaceutical tariffs could worsen already existing generic drug shortages.
www.forbes.com/sites/joshua...