Comments on House 2 MassHealth Amendments Relating to the Pharmacy Program

Comments on House 2 MassHealth Amendments Relating to the Pharmacy Program

On behalf of the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation (CHLPI) of Harvard Law School, the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI), and the undersigned organizations, we are grateful for the opportunity to provide the Committee on Ways and Means with feedback on the provisions of Governor Baker’s proposed FY 2019 budget (House 2) that seek to control drug prices in the MassHealth program.

For the reasons discussed below, we particularly urge the Committee to take the following actions with respect to the FY 2019 budget:

• The Committee should adopt Section 42 of House 2, which would allow MassHealth to use direct negotiation and increased transparency as levers to contain drug costs.
• The Committee should reject Section 68 of House 2, which would allow MassHealth to restrict medication access through the use of a closed formulary.

See attached letter.. Please contact Neil Cronin at MLRI if you have any questions