Former Iowa governor Terry Branstad, who privatized Medicaid, was a founding member of the influential, Koch-brother affiliated American Legislative Exchange Council and now his legacy causes chaos for patients, doctors and hospitals in the state.
Fighting a pharmacy benefit manager: A woman’s doctor wanted her to take one medication. CVS Caremark wanted her to take the one that would threaten her life.
Critics feared the worst on March 14, but under pressure from activists and Tarbell reporting, an Oregon panel has tabled a vote on a cut-off that could raise the risk of suicide nearly 300%.
Tarbell found handsome contributions to DCCC leaders align with the group avoiding endorsements of candidates who back “Medicare for all.”
“We need to give the criminal purveyors of these products no quarter,” Scott Gottlieb, FDA Commissioner, said.
What Americans earn and save and how much they’re in debt varies wildly, but where you live — and the overall health of the economy there — could be a factor in how the next recession impacts you. Check our map to see how your home state is doing.
What we found: Banks are using their influence on Congress to lighten their paperwork, but some of that paperwork was helping to protect America’s economy.
What you can do: Follow Tarbell to track the risks of easing rules for financial institutions—and prepare for the next recession.
Unable to afford U.S. drug prices, patients have long filled their prescriptions by ordering cheaper drugs from overseas. Now, the Food and Drug Administration is dramatically increasing how many of those shipments are stopped at the border.
What we found: Drug stores and hospitals cloak the profits they make on your medications in complex contracts and confusing billing.
What you can do: Seek out the cash price for your prescription. Often it will be cheaper than your copay.
What we learned: The arrangements between drug manufacturers and insurance middlemen are accelerating price increases.
What you can do: Support new proposals to bring transparency to the drug pricing system.
What we learned: The US drug supply chain is designed to keep prices high – and you in the dark.
What you can do: Find cheaper prices for your prescriptions and check out new nonprofit drug companies trying to bring costs down.
Thirty-six state attorneys general and others allege that the manufacturer of Suboxone, a balm for America’s opioid crisis, gamed regulators and manipulated the market to overcharge consumers.
The drug industry worked with the Obama administration to sow safety fears about cheaper medications from foreign sources.
What we learned: Why you should be concerned some scientists bias their results to benefit their corporate funders over the public welfare.
What you can do: Join Tarbell in finding false, industry-funded research.
What we learned: Research funded by companies pervades government policy making and regulatory agencies. Slanted and misleading data has a long history of helping corporate bottom lines while endangering public health and welfare.
What you can do: Learn to spot a suspect study by asking the right five questions.
What we learned: How to spot research that is biased to support corporate profits over people.
What you can do: Educate yourself by researching how products you use, like prescription drugs, have caused harm to others.
What we found: An eleventh-hour inclusion of provisions to the GOP Tax Law (thanks to the petrochemical industry) allowed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
What you can do: Connect with the Sunlight Foundation’s government transparency efforts.
What we learned: Real estate lobbyists won a hefty tax break in the new tax law.
What you can do: Discover the focus on good government ethics pursued by the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust.
What we learned: Hedge fund lobbyists secured a $2 billion tax break for a handful of their clients.
What you can do: Learn about the R Street Institute’s work to promote free market growth through open government.
What we learned: How the U.S. Chamber of Commerce out-organized opponents to pass the new tax law.
What you can do: Find out who is filling your representatives’ pockets thanks to Open Secrets.