State Medicaid Mental Health & General Pharmacy Carve-Outs: An OPEN MINDS Market Intelligence Report

In fiscal year (FY) 2017, Medicaid gross spending on prescription drugs was $64.0 billion, representing an increase of 5% over FY2016 spending of $60.9 billion. When drug rebates are taken into account, spending was $29.1 billion in FY2017. Drug rebates have increased each year, meaning net spending has remained essentially the same over the past three years, and even decreased slightly. When rebates are taken into account, prescription drug spending represents approximately 5.4% of total Medicaid spending.

Despite the flattening of spending, state Medicaid officials remain concerned about prescription drug costs. There are a number of . . .