Following Report of $1.3 Billion in Potential Losses From Medicaid Drug Rebate Program–McCaskill Calls for Action, Answers

WASHINGTON, March 30 -- The office of Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, issued the following news release:

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill is joining a bipartisan group of colleagues in calling for answers from Medicaid administrators over a report that details potential losses of up to $1.3 billion or more due to misclassifications of drugs in the rebate program.

"We are deeply concerned about these potentially longstanding weaknesses in the agency's oversight of the accuracy of drug classifications for the purposes of the Medicaid drug rebate program," wrote the bipartisan group of Senators to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verna. "Further steps appear to be needed to protect taxpayer dollars and strengthen the Medicaid program."

A recent report from the internal watchdog that oversees the Medicaid program found that 885 drugs were potentially misclassified in the Medicaid drug rebate program, and the top 10 potentially misclassified drugs potentially cost Medicaid $1.3 billion. The Senators requested answers as to what steps the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are taking to improve oversight of the drug rebate program and better protect taxpayer dollars.

McCaskill has made tackling rising healthcare and prescription drug costs a top priority in the Senate. Earlier this week, McCaskill released a report as part of her years-long effort to investigate dramatic prescription drug price increases, showing that the prices of many of the most popular brand-name drugs increased at nearly ten times the cost of inflation from 2012 to 2017.

McCaskill recently introduced legislation to end taxpayer subsidies pharmaceutical companies receive for the billions of dollars they spend on prescription drug advertising each year, which currently is fully tax-deductible. Additionally, McCaskill's bipartisan legislation to increase competition for generic drugs and help lower prescription costs was signed into law by President Trump. McCaskill also recently introduced legislation with Senator Collins to prohibit "pharmacy gag clauses" that lead to consumers needlessly overpaying for prescription drugs.

Full text of letter HERE (https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/download/letter-to-cms-on-medicaid-drug-rebates).