FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 2, 2015
Statement of the National Association of Medicaid Directors
Washington, DC - NAMD is pleased to learn that manufacturers of Hepatitis C therapies have finally come to the table to acknowledge and discuss the unsustainable pricing of their products. We believe this is an important first step in achieving the goal of making their products more affordable and accessible for Medicaid consumers and should produce significant savings for federal and state taxpayers.
However, we believe it is important to clarify several aspects of the current status of these discussions. While in some states the price negotiations have been completed, the process is at different stages in most other states. By their nature these agreements often take significant time to finalize. This is due to a variety of factors, including the time that it will take states and their contractors to fully analyze these proposals and then ultimately finalize agreements according to their respective state policies and procedures.
Irrespective of these early rebate agreements emerging for some states, Medicaid Directors remain concerned with regards to the overall sustainability and pricing levels. Directors take very seriously their role as stewards of the both the taxpayer dollar and the public trust. It is therefore important to ensure that these conversations continue in the evolving field of Hepatitis C treatments, as well as when new specialty pharmacy products become publicly available.
February 2, 2015
Statement of the National Association of Medicaid Directors
Washington, DC - NAMD is pleased to learn that manufacturers of Hepatitis C therapies have finally come to the table to acknowledge and discuss the unsustainable pricing of their products. We believe this is an important first step in achieving the goal of making their products more affordable and accessible for Medicaid consumers and should produce significant savings for federal and state taxpayers.
However, we believe it is important to clarify several aspects of the current status of these discussions. While in some states the price negotiations have been completed, the process is at different stages in most other states. By their nature these agreements often take significant time to finalize. This is due to a variety of factors, including the time that it will take states and their contractors to fully analyze these proposals and then ultimately finalize agreements according to their respective state policies and procedures.
Irrespective of these early rebate agreements emerging for some states, Medicaid Directors remain concerned with regards to the overall sustainability and pricing levels. Directors take very seriously their role as stewards of the both the taxpayer dollar and the public trust. It is therefore important to ensure that these conversations continue in the evolving field of Hepatitis C treatments, as well as when new specialty pharmacy products become publicly available.
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