Louisiana Senate Panel Votes to Limit Number of Drugs Covered by Medicaid

Hoping to reduce Medicaid drug spending that could reach $1.1 billion by 2005, the Louisiana Senate Health and Welfare Committee voted 4-1 on May 9 to place restrictions on the type of prescription medications available to beneficiaries, the Baton Rouge Advocate reports. Under current policy, beneficiaries can obtain any drug approved by the FDA regardless of cost. The measure (SB 502) would create a 15-member committee of state Medicaid officials, doctors, pharmacists and pharmacologists to establish a formulary list of drugs that could be "routinely filled." Physicians of patients seeking drugs not on the list would need "special permission" before prescribing them. According to David Hood, secretary of the state Department of Health and Hospitals, the bill could save the state $62 million in the first year and up to $100 million in 2005. A "handful" of physicians and pharmaceutical representatives expressed their opposition to the measure, saying that having a committee approve drugs could interfere with the doctor-patient relationship and could decrease access to care. The bill now heads to the full Senate (Shuler, Baton Rouge Advocate, 5/10).