HELENA - The Schweitzer administration has denied a media request for prescription drug prices paid by the state for government health care programs, citing federal law that requires the information be kept secret.
Gov. Brian Schweitzer, while acknowledging that federal law supersedes state open records laws, blasted the federal law Thursday as a product of a Congress "bought and paid for" by the prescription drug industry.
"Congress has created a system so that even the states, which buy tens of millions of dollars' worth of these drugs, have no idea what we pay on a per-unit basis," he said.
Actually, Schweitzer does know what the state pays - but, before acquiring the information last summer, had to have his chief counsel sign a written agreement not to disclose it publicly.
Schweitzer said the drug industry wants to keep secret the rebates it gives to states buying drugs for public programs, because it doesn't want regular retail customers to know how much more they're paying for drugs.
Schweitzer obtained the rebate information last summer from a state contractor that arranges price rebates for Montana's Medicaid program, which pays medical costs for the poor. He sought the information so he could compare what Montana pays for drugs through Medicaid to the cost of the same drugs in Canada.
The price paid by Montana's Medicaid program, after industry rebates, is much lower than retail customers pay and nearly as low as Canadian prices, the governor said.
About 100,000 Montanans are covered by Medicaid, which paid out nearly $65 million in Montana in fiscal 2010 for prescription drugs.
In December, Lee Newspapers, the Associated Press, Yellowstone Public Radio, the Montana Newspaper Association and the Montana Broadcasters Association asked the Schweitzer administration to release the pricing information.
They said Montana open records law requires the governor, as a public official, to release documents in his possession that list public money paid out or received by the state.
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On Wednesday, Schweitzer's chief legal counsel, Anne Brodsky, said federal law bars disclosure of the information requested by the news organizations, and that federal law pre-empts Montana's open records laws.
She also said Magellan Medicaid Services, the Virginia-based contractor that negotiates additional drug rebates for the state Medicaid program, also claimed that the rebate information is a "trade secret" protected from public disclosure.
In a Feb. 11 statement, Douglas Brown, director of rebate contracting for Magellan, said releasing the rebates that Magellan obtains for Montana and other states would let competing companies know the amount.
"If a competitor knew the amounts of MMA's supplemental drug rebate arrangements, such competitor could more readily replicate such arrangements with manufacturers and thus compete with MMA more readily in the marketplace," he wrote.
Congress created the drug-rebate program for Medicaid several years ago, enabling the drug industry to pay rebates to states to reduce the cost of prescription drugs for Medicaid. At the same time, it passed the law keeping that rebate amount secret.
Contractors like Magellan also can negotiate a further "supplemental" rebate for states - amounts that also are held secret by the companies.
On Wednesday, the state provided Lee Newspapers with spreadsheets that list the pre-rebate price that Medicaid paid for each drug - but the spreadsheets left blank the information on the rebates and supplemental rebates.
Schweitzer said he "threw a fit" when he found out he couldn't have the information without signing a promise not to disclose it publicly, and that it "sounds like a crooked enterprise."
Gov. Brian Schweitzer, while acknowledging that federal law supersedes state open records laws, blasted the federal law Thursday as a product of a Congress "bought and paid for" by the prescription drug industry.
"Congress has created a system so that even the states, which buy tens of millions of dollars' worth of these drugs, have no idea what we pay on a per-unit basis," he said.
Actually, Schweitzer does know what the state pays - but, before acquiring the information last summer, had to have his chief counsel sign a written agreement not to disclose it publicly.
Schweitzer said the drug industry wants to keep secret the rebates it gives to states buying drugs for public programs, because it doesn't want regular retail customers to know how much more they're paying for drugs.
Schweitzer obtained the rebate information last summer from a state contractor that arranges price rebates for Montana's Medicaid program, which pays medical costs for the poor. He sought the information so he could compare what Montana pays for drugs through Medicaid to the cost of the same drugs in Canada.
The price paid by Montana's Medicaid program, after industry rebates, is much lower than retail customers pay and nearly as low as Canadian prices, the governor said.
About 100,000 Montanans are covered by Medicaid, which paid out nearly $65 million in Montana in fiscal 2010 for prescription drugs.
In December, Lee Newspapers, the Associated Press, Yellowstone Public Radio, the Montana Newspaper Association and the Montana Broadcasters Association asked the Schweitzer administration to release the pricing information.
They said Montana open records law requires the governor, as a public official, to release documents in his possession that list public money paid out or received by the state.
***
On Wednesday, Schweitzer's chief legal counsel, Anne Brodsky, said federal law bars disclosure of the information requested by the news organizations, and that federal law pre-empts Montana's open records laws.
She also said Magellan Medicaid Services, the Virginia-based contractor that negotiates additional drug rebates for the state Medicaid program, also claimed that the rebate information is a "trade secret" protected from public disclosure.
In a Feb. 11 statement, Douglas Brown, director of rebate contracting for Magellan, said releasing the rebates that Magellan obtains for Montana and other states would let competing companies know the amount.
"If a competitor knew the amounts of MMA's supplemental drug rebate arrangements, such competitor could more readily replicate such arrangements with manufacturers and thus compete with MMA more readily in the marketplace," he wrote.
Congress created the drug-rebate program for Medicaid several years ago, enabling the drug industry to pay rebates to states to reduce the cost of prescription drugs for Medicaid. At the same time, it passed the law keeping that rebate amount secret.
Contractors like Magellan also can negotiate a further "supplemental" rebate for states - amounts that also are held secret by the companies.
On Wednesday, the state provided Lee Newspapers with spreadsheets that list the pre-rebate price that Medicaid paid for each drug - but the spreadsheets left blank the information on the rebates and supplemental rebates.
Schweitzer said he "threw a fit" when he found out he couldn't have the information without signing a promise not to disclose it publicly, and that it "sounds like a crooked enterprise."
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