Putin at the Door — U.S. President Joe Biden, aka Joey B, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, aka Vladdy P, met for approximately two hours via video call yesterday afternoon in a tense discussion on wtf is going on at the Ukrainian border. The U.S. fears an all out invasion of the NATO partner nation while Russia fears not invading said NATO partner. If it sounds like a you’ve heard this one before, maybe in your history textbooks, trust your instincts.

Basically, nothing got done. All the reports seems to indicate there was a lot of “well if you do that, I’m gonna do this” and not a whole lot of actual diplomatic achievement. In case you aren’t following geopolitical issues in Ukraine, allow me to elaborate.

For several months now, Russia has been lining troops along their perceived border with Ukraine, amassing roughly 10,000 soldiers so far. Remember the Crimea? It’s that oddly shaped peninsula in southern Ukraine that Russia annexed way back in 2014. Turns out, that was just the start. Putin and his nation believe Ukraine is a rightful piece of the Russian Empire, and by the looks of it now, they want it back.

So, given the U.S. and the broader West aren’t super tight with Russia, and given Ukraine is a NATO partner nation, this is not good for us Westerners. Although, to be fair, it’s not great for Russia either if the Ukraine does go full member nation of NATO, as it appears to be gradually moving towards by getting weapons systems from Western nations. So yeah, it’s heated.

At yesterday’s meeting, Biden threatened economic sanctions against Russia, among other non-all-out-war options to deter the invasion. Russia, on the other hand, seemed rather undeterred, with Vladdy P standing firm and blaming the build up in tension on the West. 

Drug Money — Or, more accurately, needing less drug money for those medicines that literally allow you to survive. We’re not getting away from Joey B just yet because on Monday the President drew eyes to a portion of the Build Back Better bill that outlines a plan to make drug prices just a bit less astronomical.

The $2tn budget proposal as whole is designed to outline a federal spending plan over the next several years with more of an emphasis on social policies. As part of that, President Biden has determined that prices of medical products are just too damn high. 

Perhaps the highlighting feature within the goal to drawdown drug prices is the cap on insulin prices. Diabetes effects over 34mm Americans, or just over 10% of our total population. As a result, insulin sales have been an absolute cash cow for big pharma in the past. But now, Biden and his governing brethren wish to limit the maximum cost a U.S. citizen spends on insulin to $35/month if covered by Medicare and private health insurance. According to Barron’s, some citizens pay well over $1,000/month for the drug.

Other highlights include a cap on out of pocket health spending for seniors at $2,000/yr through Medicaid price negotiations, coverage of hearing products for those same seniors, and expanded ability for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate prices for 10 new drugs as soon as 2025 and 20 more drugs by 2028.

It goes without saying, but big pharma is big mad. In a blog post from The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, they explained how lowering prices would increase burden in access to drugs, which at this point I think is code for “very cool plan, but you see, then we will make less money.”

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