Confronting State Medicaid Drug Spending Pressures

Authors

Rachel Sachs, Washington University in St. Louis School of LawFollow
Julie M. Donohue, University of Pittsburgh School of Public HealthFollow
Stacie B. Dusetzina, Vanderbilt University Medical Center Department of Health PolicyFollow

Document Type

Editorial

Publication Date

2020

Publication Title

Journal of the American Medical Association

Abstract

Across the country, state Medicaid budgets are under increasing strain, driven by factors including the high and increasing prices of prescription drugs. Nearly 30% of state spending supports Medicaid programs, and Medicaid programs spent more than $29 billion on prescription drugs in 2017 after accounting for manufacturer discounts. Perhaps most concerning is the increasing share of spending devoted to a few high-cost drugs. In 2017, drugs costing more than $1000 per claim represented just 1.2% of claims but accounted for 43.7% of all Medicaid drug spending, which is up from 31.1% in 2014.

Keywords

Medicaid, Food And Drug Administration, Accelerated Approval, Drug Pricing

Publication Citation

Rachel Sachs, Julie M. Donohue & Stacie B. Dusetzina, Confronting State Medicaid Drug Spending Pressures, 324 J. Am. Med. Ass’n 1831 (2020)

Repository Citation

Sachs, Rachel; Donohue, Julie M.; and Dusetzina, Stacie B., "Confronting State Medicaid Drug Spending Pressures" (2020). Scholarship@WashULaw. 301.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_scholarship/301