State Prescription Drug Plan – Montana

Montana: Medicaid-for-all drug plan different from other states’ illegal tries, By Mike Dennison, November 21, 2010, The Missoulian: “At least two other states have tried discounted prescription-drug programs similar to a proposal Gov. Brian Schweitzer unveiled last week as a potential money-saver for all Montana residents – and in both cases, a federal court declared them illegal. Schweitzer has asked federal health officials to allow all Montanans to qualify for Medicaid for the purpose of paying lower drug prices, forcing the drug industry to pay price rebates on those drugs. Yet in 2001 and 2002, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., struck down programs in Vermont and Maine that extended Medicaid drug-price rebates to people not otherwise covered by Medicaid. The pharmaceutical industry had sued to stop the programs as an improper use of the rebates…”