Some Medicaid recipients currently receive free health care will have to pay a portion of their drug bills next year. Beginning in January, Medicaid recipients whose income is already close to poverty level will have to pay $3 per prescription if the drug their physician ordered is not on the state’s list of preferred drugs and they meet other criteria. Drugs on the state’s list include inexpensive generics and medicine that manufacturers have agreed to discount.
Nearly 300,000 prescriptions for many of the latest brand-name drugs would be subject to the new co-payments, according to estimates from the Ohio Department of Job & Family Services, which runs the Medicaid program.
The department began mailing letters last week to about 800,000 families who receive free health care under the state’s Medicaid program. The letter, which will be printed only in English, explains which beneficiaries will be responsible for co-payments.
It is the first time the department is requiring co-payments for Medicaid drugs, said spokeswoman Carmen Stewart. The measure was included in Gov. Bob Taft’s two-year budget and approved by the state legislature.