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U.S. Senator
Member: Finance, Agriculture, Energy, Ethics and Aging Committees |
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For Immediate
Release March 15, 2007 |
CONTACT: Cody Wertz – Comm.
Director |
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – More than 437,000 Coloradans rely on Medicaid to fill prescriptions, without which many would be without access to life-saving drugs. This week, United States Senator Ken Salazar initiated a bipartisan letter with 45 other Senators to request that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) revise a proposed rule that could end hundreds of thousands of Coloradans ability to afford their prescriptions. “With this rule, pharmacies across Colorado would face the choice of refusing to serve Coloradans on Medicaid, or being driven out of business altogether,” said Senator Salazar. “Either way, pharmacies and Coloradans on Medicaid would be left out in the cold.” As part of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, CMS was instructed to alter the way it calculated the prescription reimbursement rate – the cost to the government of a given prescription – for prescriptions filled through Medicaid. The change in this formula meant that pharmacies nationwide would no longer be reimbursed for a given prescription based upon a given drug’s average wholesale price (the price pharmacies pay to wholesale distributors), but instead would be based upon a given drug’s average manufacturer price (the price that manufacturers charge wholesalers for their drugs). However, when CMS issued its rule regarding the average manufacturer price, it included discounts and low-margin mail order pharmacy sales, which significantly reduced the calculated price. The result was a significantly lowered calculation of average manufacturer price: If implemented, the rule would cause pharmacies to be reimbursed by Medicaid for less than the costs of acquiring the prescription for sale in the first place, threatening their ability to dispense prescriptions to Coloradans on Medicaid. “This rule would be especially devastating on rural communities,” said Senator Salazar. “Americans in rural counties count on Medicaid more heavily than those living in large cities and bordering areas. Leaving them without access to their prescriptions would put them in dire straits.” Senator Salazar’s bipartisan letter is supported by the National Association of Community Pharmacists and the National Association of Chain Drug Stores. A copy of the letter, with all 46 signatures, can be viewed by clicking here. # # #
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