DIANE BURGESS, UCONN SCHOOL OF PHARMACY’S NEW PFIZER DISTINGUISH CHAIR IN PHARMACEUTICAL TECHNOLOGY, spoke to Brad and Paul about her role, the pressing issues in the pharmaceutical industry today, the Opioid crisis and lawsuits against some pharmaceutical companies in its wake and will touch base on how important is CT to the overall industry.

photo credit: Meghan Boyd

A proposed bill PB317 has been written by CT State Senator Eric Berthel which proposes to require insurance companies to cover bariatric surgery benefits. Despite coverage by Medicaid and Medicare in our state, the majority of private insurance plans do not offer bariatric surgery as a benefit. When the ACS was passed by Obama, the essential benefit in Connecticut was based on the current coverage by our biggest HMO: Connecticare. As a result Obamacare has NOT covered bariatric surgery. Most insurers do not and have not been forced to offer the benefit. Many of our patients have switched to Medicaid for coverage despite having good jobs. This has caused a burden to taxpayers. State employees also have bariatric surgery coverage. Darren Tishler spoke to Brad and Paul about it