Drug Costs

State Medicaid Programs Already Have Considerable Flexibility to Adopt Innovative Payment Models for New High-Cost Prescription Drugs

As I have previously warned, the ongoing prescription drug pricing debate could intentionally or unintentionally lead to significant harm to the Medicaid program and its effective Drug Rebate Program.  That, in turn, could result in higher federal and state Medicaid drug costs and reduced beneficiary access to needed medications. One key element of the Medicaid […]

CCF Comments to Administration’s Harmful Rebate Safe Harbor Rule

We submitted comments to the Trump Administration’s proposed regulation to eliminate the safe harbor in the federal anti-kickback law for rebates negotiated by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) on behalf of Medicaid managed care plans (and Medicare Part D plans).   As we have previously written, the proposed regulation raises serious concerns because it would likely […]

Clearing Up Confusion about the Medicaid Rebate Program: Part II

As federal efforts to address prescription drug costs intensifies, this three-part blog series addresses misleading claims or confusion about Medicaid, its highly effective drug rebate program and overall drug pricing issues in the hopes of better informing the debate moving forward.  Part I | Part III Aggressive negotiation and closed formularies are only one factor in […]