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For many patients with complex diseases such as multiple sclerosis or rheumatoid arthritis, new drugs hold out the promise of a cure or, at least, keeping symptoms at bay. But for many of those patients, those same drugs can be wildly expensive. For patients with severe psoriasis, the new drug, Otezia, has an estimated wholesale price of $22,500. And Avonex, a drug to treat multiple sclerosis, has seen its price soar past $60,00 a year, up more than 350 percent since 2013. (Hoban, 2/25)

Iowa legislators met with psychologists and psychiatrists all over the Statehouse Tuesday — but not to discuss their personal issues. Psychologists were at the Capitol to seek authority to prescribe mental-health medications. Psychiatrists were lobbying to block the change. Psychologists traditionally focus on counseling. Psychiatrists, who are physicians, often write prescriptions for drugs to counter depression, anxiety, psychoses and other mental-health problems. (Leys, 2/24)

The Georgia House passed a bill Thursday that would allow an individual or corporation to get a state tax credit for donating money to a rural health care organization. (Miller, 2/25)