President Obama has re-nominated rationing proponent Donald Berwick to head the Centers for Medicare Services (CMS).  Berwick’s nomination was so controversial; Democrats in the Senate refused to hold a confirmation hearing and after Berwick’s recess appointment held a short oversight hearing that amounted to nothing.  In short, the man in charge of the largest government agencies in America has never been approved by the Senate and Senator’s have not had a chance to delve into his support for the British health Care system and its rationing of care.

 

Berwick is on record supporting the idea of rationing healthcare based on nothing but cost. Berwick said the following in a 2009 interview with Biotechnology Healthcare: “The social budget is limited — we have a limited resource pool. It makes terribly good sense to at least know the price of an added benefit, and at some point we might say nationally, regionally, or locally that we wish we could afford it, but we can’t… The decision is not whether or not we will ration care, the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open.”

 

One of Berwick’s initial actions while heading CMS was to undertake a “one-year review” of the prostate drug Provenge to determine if the treatment is “reasonable and necessary” and to determine whether reimbursement for the drug should be allowed.  Provenge, the first ever therapeutic vaccine cancer treatment approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), was shown to have extended life spans by an average of four months in clinical trials with few side effects. It costs $93,000 to administer the three necessary treatments. Medicare and the FDA are legally prohibited from denying approval of a medical treatment based solely on cost.

 

So what is the basis for the review? Judicial Watch wants to know.  The group has filed a FOIA request in November but HHS did not meet its statutory deadline in providing all relevant materials.  In early January, the group took their inquest one step further by filing a federal lawsuit.

 

Provenge joins Avastin as two effective, yet expensive drugs, which appear to be on the government chopping block.  Avastin’s use against breast cancer is threatened by a proposed Food and Drug Administration (FDA) effort to “de-label” the drug – a move that would allow patients access to the only drug if they could afford to pay for it out of their own pocket. 

 

Cost was a major driver in the Avastin decision and could certainly have played a role with Provenge.

 

Drugs are being rationed because of their cost right before our very eyes.  Breast cancer patients and prostate cancer patients will die if access to the drugs they need are denied. 

 

Congress has a critical role to play in the debate and must ensured continued access to needed drugs and treatments, which is part of the repeal ObamaCare push.