The increasing cost of hundreds of old, commonly known drugs has significantly boosted Medicaid spending, suggests a Kaiser Health News analysis.
The analysis found Medicaid spending climbed $3.2 billion last year compared to 2015 due to increasing costs for 313 brand-name drugs.
Generics and other non-branded drugs also contributed to rising Medicaid spending. In fact, taxpayers spent an additional $258 million in 2016 due to Medicaid expenditures for nearly 70 generic drugs, according to KHN.
KHN cites a number of drugs associated with driving the climb in Medicaid spending. A short list includes: Ventolin, which was approved in the early 1980s and treats or prevents bronchospasms; Naproxen sodium, which was originally approved in the 1990s as brand-name Aleve and treats pain and fever; and generic metformin hydrochloride, which has also been in existence since the 1990s and treats Type 2 diabetes. The analysis reveals Medicaid spent an extra $54.5 million, $10 million and $8.3 million on these drugs, respectively, in 2016 compared to 2015.
While Medicaid's overall spending on generics fell $1.6 billion in 2016 due to lower costs for some generics, the per-unit cost of "dozens of generics," excluding rebates, drastically rose between the two years analyzed, according to KHN.
Generic drugs that increased in per-unit price include Fluphenazine hydrochloride, which was approved in the late 1980s and is used to treat schizophrenia, and birth control drug Depo-Provera. Medicaid spending on the former increased nearly 350 percent, to an average $1.39 per unit last year, while Medicaid spending on the latter increased $4.5 million in 2016 compared to 2015, reports KHN.
Read the full analysis, including more information about the drugs and KHN's methodology, here.
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