It may surprise you to find out just how badly we’re failing to take a comprehensive approach to quantifying societal value from new innovations in medicine. The IRA’s investment in our climate future should be lauded; its treatment of medical innovation is unfortunately hobbled by its goal of lowering Medicare spending today at the expense of tomorrow’s patients – that is to say, all of us.

Given the seemingly endless supply of COVID-19-related content, it has sometimes felt like I was passively binging on round-the-clock coverage that was more distracting than edifying. So what might I have missed while I was absorbed in COVID? As it turns out, quite a lot.