Maggie's Farm

From sea to shining sea, the effect of RomneyCare in Massachusetts on Washington state.

The Seattle Times reports that Walgreens and Bartell Drugs chains are no longer accepting new Medicaid patients for prescriptions.  Walgreens says “the state Medicaid program is reimbursing Walgreens below its cost to break even on nearly 95 percent of brand-name medications dispensed to Medicaid patents.”

The report continues: “Washington was reimbursing pharmacies 86 percent of a drug's average wholesale price until July, when it began paying them just 84 percent.”

Why even lower since?: “Then in September came another blow. The adjusted wholesale price is calculated by a private company, which was accused in a Massachusetts lawsuit of fraudulently inflating its figures. The company did not admit wrongdoing but agreed in a court settlement to ratchet its figures down by about 4 percent.”