Health Business Blog » Blog Archive » Agreeing with the President on comparative effectiveness

David E. Williams of the Health business blog This article (Take the red pill, Mr. President) has a good time poking fun at President Obama for choosing the wrong color, for those who remember a particular movie scene: “If there’s a blue pill and a red pill, and the blue pill is half the price of the red pill and works just as well, why not pay half price for the thing that’s going to make you well?” — President Obama . . . . The article also makes a serious point, arguing against comparative effectiveness testing, telling us that doctors have enough common sense to make correct choices without government help. The problem is that the choices rely not just on common sense, but also on information, which is not free. As an example of such a choice, currently doctors use Ritalin for ADHD, based on studies financed by pharmaceutical companies showing its effectiveness. But what if caffeine is equally effective and better tolerated? No company would do a study on this because no one can patent caffeine. As a result, doctors practicing “evidence-based medicine” choose Ritalin, when for all we know caffeine may be better. Comparative effectiveness studies are to answer questions of this sort. Since no one else is ready to pay to study caffeine versus Ritalin, why not have to government pay for the study if there is a reasonable expectation of saving money by using a lower cost or better alternative? Health Business Blog » Blog Archive »Read More