Hello,
Welcome to Insider Healthcare. I'm Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer, and today in healthcare news:
- Pediatricians say UnitedHealthcare is underpaying for coronavirus vaccines;
- Cancer drug prices are rising in the US, while in other countries they're falling;
- We took a closer look at the Mu variant, which doesn't seem to be posing a greater threat than Delta.
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Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
Health-insurance giant UnitedHealthcare is paying doctors less than their costs to give COVID-19 vaccines to kids, and it could hinder efforts to end the pandemic
- Pediatricians say UnitedHealthcare is underpaying them for giving COVID-19 shots to kids.
- The country's biggest insurer pays for the shots at about half the rate of Medicare, they said.
- The low payments could reduce access to COVID-19 vaccines and hinder efforts to end the pandemic.
Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images
One key study highlights how cancer-drug prices continue to rise in the US - even if they don't elsewhere
- There is increasing interest in the federal government in lowering prescription drug prices.
- The US spends more than twice what other countries with similar income levels do on prescriptions.
- US cancer-drug prices are rising faster than inflation, while European countries' are falling.
Health care worker Elizabeth Cameros, right, administers a deep nasal coronavirus test to traveler Wade Hopkins at a COVID-19 testing station at LAX on Monday, November 23, 2020 in Los Angeles, California.
Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The Mu coronavirus variant shares key similarities with Delta, but it doesn't pose a greater threat
Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
- Scientists are closely watching the Mu coronavirus variant.
- Mu has the potential to resist protection from vaccines or a prior infection.
- But Mu isn't becoming more prevalent - a sign that it's less concerning than Delta.
Check out the full breakdown>>
More stories we're reading:
- The CDC says vaccine protection is tumbling for older Americans, though they still work very well for younger people (Insider)
- The Senate is considering a plan that pegs Medicare drug prices to the VA's discounted rates (Stat News)
- CDC: Unvaccinated people are 11 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than people who got shots (Insider)
- Mammoth Biosciences raises $195 million (Forbes)
- Lydia
Read the original article on Business Insider