Preventive Care Costs a Fortune (Just Not to Patients), Immune System Secrets Earn Nobel, and Pharmacy Owner Reveals the Math That's Killing His Profession

Hey all,

Happy Thursday! While brilliant scientists unlock the mysteries of human biology, our healthcare economics remain stubbornly immune to basic logic. We’re making breakthrough treatments for autoimmune conditions except nobody can make money running a pharmacy unless they’re owned by a big PBM or 340B covered entity. This is why, despite having the world's best clinicians, our health system ranks last (10th out of 10) among high-income countries in the Commonwealth Fund's rankings.

Enjoy the rundown!

Jacob Brody (Co-Founder & CEO, ZorroRX)

(BenefitsPRO) Employers Pay More Than $1,000 for Some “Free” Preventive Services

A new Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) analysis reveals that while many preventive services are “free” to patients under the Affordable Care Act, employers and insurers often pay high prices for them—sometimes over $1,000 per patient. The most expensive items include HIV prevention and treatment medications, colon cancer screening procedures, and the Mirena IUD contraceptive system, highlighting the significant financial burden these mandated services can place on employer health plans. Yet another externality of the Affordable Care Act—making care “free” by making it cost more. Full Article

(NBC News) Americans win Nobel Prize in medicine for work on human immune system

Three scientists — Americans Mary E. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell, along with Japan’s Shimon Sakaguchi — were awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine for uncovering the mechanisms of peripheral immune tolerance, a key process that prevents the immune system from attacking the body’s own tissues. Their discoveries, including identifying the Foxp3 gene and the role of regulatory T cells, have revolutionized understanding of autoimmune diseases and paved the way for new treatments in cancer, autoimmune disorders, and organ transplantation. As someone with a number of autoimmune disorders, this prize warms my heart. Full Article

(Drugstore Cowboy) and (The Collapse of American Pharmacy Economics): Alec Ginsberg, a fourth-generation pharmacist and owner of C.O. Bigelow Apothecary, uses the closure of Rite Aid to illustrate a broader crisis in American pharmacy: a business model so warped by Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) that filling prescriptions often means losing money. Through the story of one patient whose care costs his pharmacy thousands annually, Ginsberg reveals how PBMs’ opaque pricing and reimbursement systems have made compassionate care financially unsustainable, threatening both independent and corporate pharmacies alike. He argues that when pharmacies vanish, patients lose vital human oversight — and that preserving this relationship is essential to saving healthcare’s soul. Full Article