Medicaid’s initial purpose was to “provide health coverage to low-income people” and is now one of the largest payers for healthcare in the United States. The problem is that while this government run program appears to have good intentions, the truth behind the prescriptions tells a very different story. Apparently pharmaceutical companies have been influencing doctors to use their medications for Medicaid recipients at the high cost to taxpayers and at the risk of patient health.

In a recent article published by The Center for Public Integrity entitled “How drugmakers sway states to profit off of Medicaid,” they share the shady underbelly of pharmaceutical companies and how they are influencing doctors to profit off of the Medicaid system. Here are some key points from this article:

• Medicaid creates a “Preferred Drug List” of medications that seem to work the best and are most affordable. The committees who determine which drugs go on these lists -  usually known as pharmacy and therapeutics committees or drug utilization review boards - are typically made up of volunteer pharmacists and doctors and even some states include drug company employees on their committees.
• Many times the members on these review boards receive “perks” for promoting a medication. It has been reported that certain doctors have received anywhere from a $20 dinner to more than $500,000 in compensation to vote for a drug to get on this coveted Medicaid list. In fact, it was reported that 3 out of 5 doctors voting on state Medicaid decisions nationwide received perks from pharmaceutical companies.
• Drug companies are also flexing their power with government representatives. An average of 2,200 registered state lobbyists have represented big pharma on average over the past decade. One reason is that many states will add a drug to their preferred lists only if the makers offer supplemental rebates to help fund Medicaid. Some drug makers have hired lobbyists to overturn this decision which could save them millions of dollars.

So why should you care about these numbers and this controversy? Because Medicaid uses your tax dollars to pay for the health care of over 76 million poor or disabled Americans (and Medicaid accounts for more than a quarter of 26 states’ budgets). Medicaid drug costs also doubled between 2008-2016 which brought the program’s drug spending to a shocking $31 billion. While Medicaid should help those who cannot help themselves, it was never intended to pad the pocketbooks of doctors and pharmaceutical companies at the cost of taxpayers. To view the original article, “How drugmakers sway states to profit off of Medicaid: Medicaid drug costs rise, leading to tough state budget choices,” in its entirety, please click here.