Subject: fyi
From: "Mike Smith" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>
Cc: "Hunter Biden \([email-masked]\)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2011 06:16:39 -0400

THE $93,000 QUESTION - If anything is too expensive for Medicare, it just might be a prostate cancer therapy that costs $93,000 and gives men, on average, an extra four months to live. The decision is due March 30, when CMS must decide whether Medicare will pay for Provenge, a cancer therapy. If CMS decides not to cover it, the agency could open itself up to the "government rationing" charges again (because Don Berwick was really missing those). And if the agency decides to cover it, the Obama administration will lose a lot of its talking points about controlling health care spending. The POLITICO Pro Story. http://politico.pro/euyY9f <Pulse:%20NAIC%20won%27t%20vote%20yet%20on%20broker%20bill%20-%201099%20repeal%20vote%20possible%20this%20week%20-%20Sebelius:%20I%27m%20staying%20-%20Hawaii%20says%20no%20to%20waiver.EML?Cmd=open#story2251>