Lawmakers and advocacy groups claim that prescription drug makers have been overcharging the Medicaid program. (Newhouse News Service)
Testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Ron Tenpas, a U.S. associate deputy attorney general, said drug companies are required by law to give Medicaid programs the same discount as managed care plans and hospitals, but they have not. The government contends drug companies have concealed this practice. So far, about $3.9 billion has been recouped over the past six years in from damages and civil penalties.
“It is clear from our experience that drug company violations of the law are causing government health-care programs to pay too much for prescription drugs,” Tenpas told Newhouse.
Texas lawyer Mike Moore, who represents a drug company involved in litigation, told Newhouse that government regulators knew about price differentials, which they’ve never questioned before. He said the government’s side of the story is “very simplistic and one-sided.â€
