|
E-mail this page to a friend!
Medicaid News
Legislation Would Expand Medicaid Prescription Drug
Discounts to More Facilities
States see spending slow with lower Medicaid
spending growth
June 11, 2007 - Reps. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), Jo Ann
Emerson (R-Mo.) and Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) have introduced a bill (HR
2606) that would expand the Medicaid "340B" prescription drug
program to allow more hospitals and community health centers to receive
discounts on medications,
CQ HealthBeat
reports.
The program, established under a 1992 law, provides
discounts on outpatient medications for safety net hospitals, community
health centers and other health care providers that serve low-income
patients.
Providers that currently qualify for the program
receive a 40% to 50% discount on the average wholesale price of
medications. Under the legislation, critical access hospitals, sole
community hospitals, rural referral centers, hospitals dependent on
Medicare and other providers would qualify for the program. The bill
also would expand the program to inpatient medications for hospitals
that currently qualify.
At a news conference on Thursday, Rush and Stupak
said that the legislation would save hospitals millions of dollars. Rush
said that the
Energy and Commerce
Committee likely would pass the bill and that the legislation
likely would reach the House floor by the end of the year.
Comments
Rick Pollack, executive vice president of the
American Hospital
Association, said, "With resources already stretched to the
limit, discounts on drugs will serve as welcome relief to spiraling
pharmaceutical costs." He added that, under the bill, the program would
"see lower costs for achieving much-needed prescription drug savings."
Ken Johnson, senior vice president of the
Pharmaceutical
Research and Manufacturers of America, said that the
legislation would expand the program "substantially."
He said, "Adding new categories of covered entities
to the 340B program and allowing each covered entity to use multiple
contract pharmacies without any safeguards are imprudent given recent
evidence that the program's safeguards against drug diversion may not be
working effectively."
Johnson added that the legislation would expand
"pharmaceutical product price controls, which various studies ... have
shown can discourage innovation" (Teitelbaum, CQ HealthBeat, 6/8).
States Experience Budget Surpluses in Part
Because of Lower Medicaid Spending Growth
More than 40 states have budget surpluses this
year, in part because of reductions in Medicaid spending growth, which
has decreased from an annual rate 11% to about 7% within the past few
years, the
New York Times
reports.
Higher-than-expected tax increases and growth in
local economies also contributed to the state budget surpluses, which
have reached their highest level since 2000. Many states plan to use
budget surpluses to address expensive, long-term problems, such as the
issue of the uninsured.
According to a report from the
National Governors
Association and the
National
Association of State Budget Officers, two-thirds of governors
have plans to expand access to health insurance in fiscal year 2008, in
large part through expansions of public programs and employer mandates.
For example, a bill under consideration in
Wisconsin would provide health insurance for all children in the state
by 2010 through an expansion of public programs to those in families
with annual incomes less than 300% of the federal poverty level by
January 2009 and discounted coverage for those in families with higher
incomes.
In addition, a bill under consideration in Oregon
would use the state budget surplus and an 84.5 cents-per-pack increase
in the state cigarette tax to increase funds for a public health
insurance program for children by $60 million.
NGA estimated that in FY 2008, state spending on
health insurance expansions will total $18.4 billion, which includes
funds from the federal government (Steinhauer, New York Times, 6/11).
|
Nursing Home Abuse, Medical Malpractice? Contact a lawyer.
click here
|
|
Click to More Senior News on the
Front Page
Copyright: SeniorJournal.com |
