Vermont plans Rx bidding for Medicaid

In the USA, the Vermont House of Representatives' Health and WelfareCommittee is working on a bill that could save up to 40% on the cost of prescription drugs that the state provides for its Medicaid beneficiaries.

The plan calls for pharmaceutical companies to bid competitively to supply drugs on the state formulary, reports the Associated Press. Consumers could use the drug on the formulary or another one, and doctors could indicate if another treatment is preferred for a patient.

Other provisions included in the bill are: - incentives to establish more federally-qualified health centers, whose patients would be entitled to the federal government's best prices on prescriptions; - an initiative to teach doctors and consumers about the prices of particular drugs and lower-cost alternatives; and - setting up a catastrophic fund which would be available after consumers had spent a set percentage of their income, which would vary according to income relative to the government's poverty line.