Bipartisan Deal Takes Important Step to Control Medicaid Drug Prices, But More Is Needed
<p>Congress included legislation to reduce prescription drug prices and costs in the recently passed Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. Likely the least understood part of that provision is a technical fix to how the Medicaid program pays for “line extensions,” or drugs that have undergone minor changes from their original versions. </p><p>In a new post on<em> To the Point, </em>former congressman Henry Waxman and colleagues Bill Corr and Kristi Martin explain that the new legislation ensures that manufacturers of brand-name drugs cannot take advantage of inappropriately low Medicaid rebates. The deal also includes two other provisions that should save Medicare beneficiaries and the federal government money. Still, more can be done, the authors say, to enact policies that make prescription drugs affordable to all.</p>
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/newsletters/ealerts/2018/feb/bipartisan-deal-takes-important-step-to-control-medicaid-drug-prices Read the post