Rationing Begins: States Limiting Drug Prescriptions for Medicaid Patients

With the coming advent of ObamaCare, states that are bracing for the huge increase in Medicaid recipients are looking for a way to save money and they think they’ve found one; limiting the number of prescription drugs that Medicaid patients can obtain. The cost for Medicaid will skyrocket under Obamacare because of the expanded eligibility requirements.

As a result of the imminent financial crunch, seven states have tightened the limits on prescription drugs in the last two years, joining nine others that also set limits. Illinois only allows four brand-name drugs for Medicaid patients, Mississippi has a limit of two, and Arkansas adults are limited to six. In Alabama, Medicaid patients were only getting one brand-name drug per month, and HIV and psychiatric drugs were excluded, but on Aug. 1 the state will relax the limit to its previous level — four brand-name drugs — after the state saved more money than expected and received money as part of a settlement with a pharmaceutical company.

More