Posted by Michael Wonder on 09 Jan 2019
This bottle of pills costs $20 in one state and $130 in another
4 January 2019 - Generic versions of the heartburn drug Nexium should be cheap all around the U.S. Numerous manufacturers sell it. A month’s worth of pills is available from wholesalers for less than $20.
But in several states, Medicaid plans that serve the poor are paying more—a lot more. Early last year in Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky, Nevada and Ohio, that $20 bottle of generic Nexium cost Medicaid managed-care plans more than $130, according to a Bloomberg News analysis.
It’s not just heartburn pills. A Bloomberg analysis of 90 big-selling generic drugs in Medicaid managed-care plans in 31 states found wide variations in the prices of medicine from state to state. In some states, Medicaid plans appear to be getting a good deal. In others, plans pay markups of threefold or more on some treatments.
