Medicaid Prescription Drugs

This posting explores prescription drug coverage under Texas Medicaid, including related spending and trends. Pharmacy costs borne by the state’s Medicaid program increased 90 percent from 2001 to 2011, prompting the state to carve pharmacy into Medicaid managed care in 2012. Continued growth in pharmacy costs is attributed to the aging of the population, specialty drug development, new marketing practices, and recent price increases in many generic drugs. The following Kaiser graph shows the growth in Medicaid drug spending across the U.S.: In FY 2016, 48 million prescriptions were filled statewide in the Medicaid program, at a total cost to Medicaid of $3.7 billion. The average cost per Medicaid prescription in 2016 dollars was $75.32. A 2016 study found that the state’s Medicaid program filled more brand name drugs than the national average for this indicator. The average state’s Medicaid prescriptions were 81 percent generic, while 77 percent of Texas Medicaid prescrip