NACDS chief, state pharmacy leader appeal to consumers on Medicaid cuts

SEATTLE In a direct appeal to pharmacy consumers in the state of Washington, industry and professional leaders have co-authored a high-profile article in The Seattle Times, condemning the state’s plan to cut Medicaid pharmacy reimbursements and asking consumers for their support in overturning the plan.

The guest column came from Steve Anderson, president and CEO of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, and Jeff Rochon, CEO of the Washington State Pharmacy Association. It was published Monday under the headline “Medicaid pharmacy cuts will hurt all patients.”

Anderson and Rochon, along with Walgreens, have waged a legal and public information campaign to halt the proposed cuts, which they argue would make Washington state's reimbursement the lowest in the nation. In their opinion column Monday, the two pharmacy leaders condemned the proposed cuts and appealed to consumers to contact state legislators to express opposition to the plan.

“The consequences of this decision are deeply troubling,” wrote Anderson and Rochon. “This new cut would mean every time a doctor prescribes a brand-name medication to Medicaid patients — even when a less-expensive generic alternative is available — pharmacies would lose money. It is absurd to penalize pharmacies for providing our patients with the medication that was prescribed by their doctor.”

Anderson and Rochon point out that the cuts would make filling prescriptions for Medicaid patients unprofitable, “potentially putting hundreds of jobs at risk and wreaking economic damage to large and smaller pharmacies across the state.

“More importantly, these cuts could harm the very people that the state has an obligation to serve,” they noted.

“We in the pharmacy industry recognize the state's budgetary constraints and we went to the legislature and the governor with a slate of alternative solutions that address the state's budget crisis,” add the two pharmacy advocates. “We proposed ideas such as implementing electronic prescribing programs for physicians to make patient care more efficient, and quickly converting Medicaid patients to new generic versions of brand-name medications as they become available in the near future. All told, these and other programs could save the state $90 million, far more than it gains by reducing the reimbursement on Medicaid drugs.”