The Orphan Drug Act of 1983 provides incentives to encourage the development of drugs for rare diseases, but available orphan drugs tend to be expensive and targeted to the more common of the rare diseases.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(8):776-779. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.8.pfor2-1508.
Despite leaps forward in medical technology that have enabled the timely detection and effective treatment of many cancers, members of marginalized racial and ethnic groups and patients without health insurance often do not receive timely and appropriate care.
The importance of the Oregon experiment is that the state developed a public process for prioritizing medical services rather than relying on undisclosed private decisions by individuals or insurers.
Erwin C. Wang, MHA, Megan Prior, Jenny M. Van Kirk, Stephen A. Sarmiento, Margaret M. Burke, MS, Christine Oh, MS, Eileen S. Moore, MD, and Stephen Ray Mitchell, MD
Policies and systems are slow to resolve structural disparities in access to insurance coverage and health care, but physicians can act now.