Connecticut Legislative Committees To Consider Generic Drug Plan for Public Assistance Program Participants

The Connecticut Legislature's appropriations and public health and human services committees are expected to act within the next week on a state Department of Social Services plan to reduce the state's prescription drug costs by $400 million, the Hartford Courant reports. Under the plan, requested by the Legislature two years ago, doctors would have to receive prior authorization before prescribing a brand-name drug to a beneficiary of Medicaid or ConnPACE, the state's prescription drug assistance program for seniors and people with disabilities. If the doctor fails to call the clinical call center for approval, the pharmacist filling the prescription would have to call. Authorization also would be required for early refills of any prescription and for prescriptions costing more than $500. The plan is expected to save the state $5 million per year, Matthew Barret, a spokesperson for the department of social services, said, adding, "This isn't about requiring generic substitutions in all instances. It's simply about using a generic substitution when it's the chemical equivalent of the brand-name drug and the prescriber is unable to provide a medical justification for not substituting."

Dangerous?
But critics of the plan have said that the plan will lead to "hassles and delays" that could prevent seniors and the poor from getting needed medications. Further, they say that generics "don't always work as well" as the brand-name version, the Courant reports. The committees must vote on the prior authorization plan by May 21 or it will receive automatic approval by default, the Courant reports. State Rep. William Dyson (D), co-chair of the appropriations committee, and state Sen. Toni Harp (D), co-chair of the public health committee, said the committees will "meet soon to discuss the proposal and vote on it" (Condon, Hartford Courant, 5/16).