An unfortunate consequence of the recession
and reduced revenues have been significant cuts to state prescription drug
assistance programs and Medicaid coverage including for prescription drugs.
In Texas,
500,000 free vaccines for kids won't be
provided anymore. Legislators in Maine
enacted a budget cutting health care entirely
for 20,000 young adults aged 19-20 and eliminated 1,500 seniors from
prescription drug assistance. The budgets passed by both the House and
Senate in Illinois
would eliminate the elderly
prescription drug assistance program serving 180,000 people to save $72.2
million. Cuts of $36 million to New York's EPIC
program (Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage) went into effect in
January.
This
recent report from the Community
Access National Network outlines Medicaid cuts proposed or enacted in many of
the 50 states, including pharmaceutical cuts. The report lists the following
states as having numerical limits on the number of prescriptions (some with
monthly caps) that may be purchased through Medicaid: Alabama,
Arkansas, California (proposed), Georgia, Illinois (proposed), Kentucky,
Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia. See
also this report from the Kaiser Family Foundation on planned mid-year cuts to
Medicaid in 10 states.
In a "double
overtime" special session, Washington
state avoided cuts to pharmacy
despite early proposals that would have made significant cuts.
