Will Massachusetts be able to negotiate Medicaid prescription drug prices?

In the absence of new federal policies to tame high price drugs, Massachusetts’ state Medicaid program is fighting for the power to negotiate discounts for the drugs it purchases and to exclude drugs with limited treatment value.

If the Department of Health and Human Services approves the State’s plan, others will likely take similar action. According to the most recent federal data, Medicaid spending on prescription drugs increased about 25 percent in 2014 and nearly 14 percent in 2015.

Currently, state Medicaid programs are required to cover almost all drugs that have received Food and Drug Administration approval, including multiple drugs from different manufacturers used for the same purpose and in the same category. In exchange, manufacturers must discount those drugs. The discount is typically based on a set percentage of the list price, specified by federal law. However, as drug prices soar, states say those fractional discounts no longer suffice to defray the burden of rising costs.

One example presents itself through the hepatitis C cures released in recent years whereby prices come in tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars and have cost Medicaid billions. In turn, some states tried to restrict access so that only the sickest patients could get the drugs. Advocates filed suit in response and won based on the argument that such limits violated Medicaid’s statutory drug benefit.

In response, Massachusetts is requesting a federal exemption known as a Section 1115 waiver, which allows states to test ways of improving Medicaid. In short, it wants to pick which drugs it covers based on most beneficiaries’ medical needs and which medicines demonstrate the highest rates of cost effectiveness. The desired result is that it will be able to negotiate better prices, which in turn will lead to saving public dollars while still maintaining patients’ access to needed therapies.

Critics worry this change could make it harder for low-income people to get needed medications, without necessarily providing them an alternative. Further, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the drug industry’s trade group, has already noted its displeasure with this plan, saying that Massachusetts’ plan would limit consumer access and is ultimately unnecessary on top of the rebates Medicaid programs receive. If the Department of Health and Human Services approves the plan, it is likely that the industry would sue.

However, states are becoming desperate to find a way reduce the exorbitant costs of prescription drugs any way they can. If Massachusetts plan is approved, it is likely that there will be many other states that will be interested in following this lead.