6 September 2017 - More than 70% of patients have been rejected by insurers for these new heart disease drugs, decisions many doctors say are misguided since the drugs are only recommended for the sickest patients.

Seth Martin's advanced lipids clinic at Johns Hopkins Medicine treats some of the sickest heart-disease patients around. But two doctors, two nurses and another staffer there are devoting much of their time to fighting with insurance companies over two advanced cholesterol drugs.

Nearly 90% of the patients Hopkins wants to put on expensive, powerful PCSK9 inhibitors are initially rejected, making heart disease perhaps the central stage in the battle over high U.S. drug prices. In the least, it's the drug-pricing battle that may matter to the most Americans: Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death in the country.

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