Michael Hiltzik: How the FDA's lousy judgment and a greedy drug company combined to hit Medicare members hard

The fallout from the Food and Drug Administration's hasty approval of a new Alzheimer's drug in June was predicted to be severe: Excessive pricing for a drug lacking strong evidence of effectiveness would impose heavy costs on the healthcare system nationwide, especially on Medicare.

That latter shoe has now dropped. The 2022 premium increase Medicare announced on Friday for Part B is one of the largest increases ever. According to the Medicare trustees, half the increase is directly due to the projected cost of Aduhelm, the drug approved by the FDA in June.

The case is a perfect illustration of how the government's self-imposed powerlessness to control drug companies' greed combines with the general dysfunction of the American healthcare system to hit consumers where it hurts the most, in the pocketbook.

The 14.5% increase in the minimum monthly premium for Part B, which generally