Health Policy Report Prescription Drug Round Up Features Florida, Texas and More on Colorado

In continuing the Health Policy Report's coverage of state action on prescription drug coverage, the following briefly summarizes recent news from Colorado, Texas and Florida:

• Colorado: Updating the Health Policy Report's April 10th coverage of a bill (HB 1320) that would require price parity between prescription drugs sold in pharmacies and those sold by typically less-expensive mail-order services, the Colorado Springs Gazette reports that the bill's state House sponsor, Rep. Lola Spradley (R), has withdrawn her support for the legislation. "[P]rompted" by "heavy lobbying" from the insurance industry, Spradley has asked state Sen. Terry Phillips (D), who is sponsoring the bill in the state Senate, to kill the measure (Gartner, Colorado Springs Gazette, 4/11). "Dozens" of protestors gathered at the state Capitol yesterday in opposition to the bill, saying the legislation would "unnecessarily add expenditures to Colorado's health bill" by encouraging mail-order services to raise prices on par with pharmacies (the bill does not mandate adoption of the lower drug prices). Phillips said he is "considering several options" and will decide on April 16 what to do with the bill (Perrault, Denver Rocky Mountain News, 4/11).
• Florida: Faced with a $1.2 billion increase in the state's overall Medicaid spending, Gov. Jeb Bush (R) has proposed cutting $281 million of Medicaid expenditures by "restricting" the drugs available through the program and requiring the use of generics for some brand-name drugs. However, the Coalition to Protect Health Care Access, a group of providers, "warned" that the plan would keep "thousands" of HIV/AIDS patients and the mentally ill from receiving their prescriptions (Groeller, Orlando Sentinel, 4/10). In other Florida news, the state House on April 10 passed a bill (HB 69) that would allow pharmacists to substitute generic drugs for 11 brand-name drugs that are currently exempted from a state law requiring pharmacists to offer such substitutions. The AP/Tallahassee Democrat reports that the Senate's companion bill (SB 342), which is pending in committee, "faces a bright future" (Hallifax, AP/Tallahassee Democrat, 4/11).
• Texas: The state Senate on April 10 approved a bill (SB 556) that would allow Medicare recipients to purchase prescriptions at Medicaid prices (AP/Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, 4/10). Under the legislation, the state Health Department would negotiate with pharmaceutical firms to issue rebates to pharmacies that participate in the program (Stutz, Dallas Morning News, 4/11). For more in-depth coverage of states' legislative actions on prescription drugs, visit the Health Policy Report archive at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_hpolicy_search_arch.cfm.