New Medicaid Enrollees Likely to Be Healthier Than Current Ones: Study

The Medicaid rolls now stand at 50-million-plus, according to an analysis by USA Today. And another 16 million people are expected to enroll in the federal-state program due to health-care overhaul legislation, which requires states to cover adults with gross incomes of up to 138% of the poverty level.
So what will these new enrollees look [...]

Pharmacies, drugstores object to Medicaid price transparency effort

The pharmacy and drugstore lobbies are strongly objecting to a new effort by the federal government to gather more data on drug prices in the Medicaid program.
The groups say the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) exceeded its legal authority when it recently put out a request for proposal requiring a “nationwide survey of [...]

House Approves Bill to Aid States

House members, many grumpy at having to return from a summer break, came back to the Capitol Tuesday to approve a $26 billion bill aimed at helping states retain teachers and make Medicaid payments.
With the Senate having passed the measure last week, President Barack Obama signed the bill into law.
Democrats highlighted their willingness to interrupt [...]

GPhA Report: Generics Offer Big Medicaid Savings Opportunity

Every 2% uptick in the substitution of generic drugs for brand-name products saves Medicaid $1 billion a year, according to a report released by the Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA). And, the group says, the generic utilization rate is about 64% across Medicaid, more than 10 percentage points lower than for the general population — suggesting [...]

Pay-for-delay, evergreening central to GPhA cost-savings report

The Generic Pharmaceutical Association is touting a new report that highlights cost savings associated with generic drugs as additional fodder to fight congressional efforts to limit pharmaceutical manufacturer settlements, while simultaneously calling for the elimination of “evergreening” practices for biologic products — two issues that were central in the healthcare reform debate.
In its report, GPhA [...]

Report: Medicaid wasting millions on name-brand drugs

Medicaid is wasting hundreds of millions of dollars each year purchasing name-brand drugs in cases where a cheaper generic is also available, according to a report released Wednesday by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a conservative think-tank.
After examining two-thirds of the $21.8 billion Medicaid spent on pharmaceuticals [...]

Lawmakers to mull bills aimed at boosting price transparency

A House panel plans to take up a trio of bills aimed at increasing transparency and clarity in healthcare pricing, tackling an issue that has bedeviled the industry for decades and handcuffed efforts to turn everyday people into better purchasers of care.

Writing The Rules For The Health Law

The Obama administration faces a monumental task this year in implementing the first changes dictated by the new health care reform law, not to mention laying the groundwork for the bigger changes to come in 2014.