Hawaii's prescription drug discount program Hawaii Rx Plus, "continues to struggle, a victim of the state's inability to negotiate deeper discounts with drug makers," the Honolulu Advertiser reports. The program offers prescription drug discounts to state residents who do not qualify for Medicaid, have annual incomes that do not exceed 350% of the federal poverty level and have exhausted their private prescription drug benefits or have no drug coverage. Beneficiaries pay Medicaid prices for drugs, and savings average about 13.4% for brand-name medications and 32.6% for generic drugs.
Under state law signed in 2002, the administration of Gov. Linda Lingle (R) is permitted to negotiate with drug manufacturers for discounted drug prices. However, "deeper price breaks originally envisioned by the law have not happened because the Lingle administration has not" voluntarily negotiated rebates with drug makers, the Advertiser reports. This year, Democratic lawmakers amended the law to require the Lingle administration to negotiate rebates. The amended law also requires the state to inform physicians about the differences in drug costs between manufacturers that offer rebates and those that do not.
The administration had proposed combining the Hawaii Rx Plus program with the state pharmacy assistance program in order to gain bargaining leverage, but lawmakers rejected the idea. The administration maintains that rebates are not likely because only 112,000 residents are enrolled in the program -- down from 150,000 in 2005 -- and because many residents choose less-costly generic drugs over brand-name drugs that bring manufacturer incentives, according to the Advertiser (DePledge, Honolulu Advertiser, 5/30).
"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
Publication Date: 2007-06-05 18:00
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