The New York Times reports that specialty drug manufacturers are lobbying state legislatures to pass laws restricting the ability of pharmacists to substitute biosimilar drugs for brand name drugs even before the Food and Drug Administration has approved a regulatory pathway for approving the marketing of biosimilar drugs in the U.S. That’s crazy.

Modern Healthcare reports that the Trust for American Health has issued a report urging smarter government spending and oversight of preventive care. Reuters gets to the nub of the issue

The report also makes an economic argument for preventive care, highlighting the possibility of reducing healthcare spending — which in 2011 reached $2.7 trillion, just shy of 18 percent of gross domestic product — by billions of dollars. And that has health economists shaking their heads.

“Preventive care is more about the right thing to do” because it spares people the misery of illness, said economist Austin Frakt of Boston University. “But it’s not plausible to think you can cut healthcare spending through preventive care. This is widely misunderstood.”

The FEHBlog understands the public health economics often are counter-intutitive and that economic forces tend to force the cost curve up despite the best efforts of health plans and insurers..