The hottest Cost Control Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Strange bedfellows agree: PBM pricing reform cannot stop at Medicare, Medicaid

HEALTH CARE un-covered • 679 implied HN points • 24 Jan 24
🏥 Health Politics Cost Control
  1. Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) make a lot of money, often taking nearly half of all spending on drugs for Medicare and Medicaid. This needs to change so that more money goes directly to patients and their care.
  2. There is growing bipartisan support for reforming PBMs, but it’s important that these changes don’t only apply to Medicare and Medicaid. They should also include employer-based insurance plans, as many Americans still rely on them.
  3. Reforming PBMs could lower drug costs for both companies and their employees. It's a move that could save money for everyone and cut out unnecessary profits made by these middlemen.

Making Oxford Nanopore Profitable?

ASeq Newsletter • 21 implied HN points • 15 Dec 25
💼 Business Cost Control
  1. A new CEO is expected to make the company profitable by 2027.
  2. Recent financials show losses haven’t meaningfully decreased and 2025 appears worse, so progress toward profitability is limited.
  3. Headcount has been rising, which suggests costs aren’t being cut and makes the profitability goal harder to achieve.

Nuclear Power not only should be cheap; it was cheap: 3 cents/kWh cheap.

Gordian Knot News • 307 implied HN points • 10 Feb 24
🔬 Science Cost Control
  1. In the 1960s, nuclear power was as cheap as coal, at about 3.2 cents per kWh in 2024 dollars.
  2. Nuclear power plants require significantly less material and labor compared to coal plants, making them potentially cheaper to build and operate.
  3. High regulatory costs, escalating material and labor expenses, and a misdirected regulatory system have contributed to making nuclear power more expensive than it should be.

Inhouse history part 2: cost and waste

The Jolly Contrarian • 0 implied HN points • 01 Dec 21
💼 Business Cost Control
  1. The rise of the premium mediocre machines in the legal industry has led to a focus on regulatory matters and cost control.
  2. In legal processes, waste is harder to identify than cost, and the concept of 'delivery' becomes crucial for efficiency.
  3. The agency problem complicates efforts to address inefficiencies within legal teams, as individuals tend to protect their own processes despite acknowledging broader inefficiencies.

Financial Management: Costs

Logos • 0 implied HN points • 30 Jul 20
💼 Business Cost Control
  1. Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) includes all costs related to making a product, like raw materials and manufacturing expenses. Companies should always look for ways to reduce these costs to improve profitability.
  2. Gross profit is different from gross margin. While gross margin is a percentage, gross profit is the actual dollar amount made after costs. It's important for managers to focus on absolute profit rather than just margins.
  3. Direct costs are specific to a product, while allocated costs are shared expenses across divisions. It's crucial to understand these differences when making financial decisions, as misclassifying costs can lead to poor business choices.
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