VENTURE CAPITAL POST

The retail prices for prescription drugs have increased at a faster rate from the year 2006 to 2013. In 2013, the retail price hike for prescription drugs used by older people in America was 9.4%.

The Justice Department launched an investigation on drug makers Merck & Co, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, and Eli Lilly & Co for alleged over pricing. The Wall Street Journal reported that the US Attorney's office in Eastern District of Pennsylvania, along with the Justice Department's civil division set a probe on Merck, Eli Lilly, and Valeant on how these drug makers calculate and report their product pricing to the government medical rebate program.

As Washington has tightened its belt in recent years, the budget cuts have sliced most deeply in states where President Obama is unpopular, according to an analysis of federal spending by Reuters.

The Obama administration on Monday unveiled an ambitious plan to control health costs by moving the $2.9 trillion U.S. health systems away from costly fee-for-service medicine, beginning with the Medicare program for the elderly and disabled.

Of every $10 spent on healthcare in the U.S., almost 90 cents is due to smoking, a new analysis says. Using recent health and medical spending surveys, researchers calculated that 8.7 percent of all healthcare spending, or $170 billion a year, is for illness caused by tobacco smoke, and public programs like Medicare and Medicaid paid for most of these costs.

How long patients survive after surgery to remove lung cancer may depend on factors like insurance, income and education, according to a new study.

Arkansas is the first of many states in the US that would receive funds for Medicaid expansion under Obamacare.