COLORADO STARTS PROCESS TO SAVE CITIZENS MONEY

By this time next year,many citizens of theRocky Mountain State willbe saving more moneythan ever with the inceptionof the Generic DrugCard, a passport to less costly prescriptionsfor high blood pressure, asthma, arthritis, andmany other ailments. Gov Bill Ritter signed anexecutive order that allowed Colorado to joina multistate pool to get deeper discounts onprescriptions for the 500,000 citizens currentlyon Medicaid. Soon after, both state chamberspassed Senate Bill 1, which directs astate agency to negotiate discounts on genericmedications for the 398,000 Coloradanswho do not have health insurance and whoseincome is <300% of the federal poverty level.

State Senator Bob Hagedorn, who cosponsoredthe bill, said, "With generics, there willbe no direct-to-consumer advertising costs,no research and development costs to payfor."Now, he said, it is up to the state'sDepartment of Health Care Policy andFinancing to negotiate the same steep discountsfor generics that other states alreadyreceive. Colorado will be one of the fewstates that do not limit the drug benefit toMedicaid beneficiaries.