AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine will receive $1.4 million as part of a national settlement with a drug wholesaler accused of inflating prices for prescription medications and overcharging state Medicaid programs.
Maine Attorney General William Schneider on Friday announced Maine’s share of the $151 million settlement reached with McKesson Corporation, one of the country’s largest drug wholesalers. The settlement is with Maine and 28 other states.
“The state paid artificially high prices due to the manipulation of the drug reimbursement system by this corporation,” Schneider said in a press release. “Through this settlement, MaineCare will receive restitution for those excessive payments.”
MaineCare, as Medicaid is known in the state, is funded jointly by the state and federal governments.
San Francisco-based McKesson was accused of reporting artificially high pricing information to First Databank, a publisher of drug prices that most state Medicaid programs use to set pharmacy reimbursement rates for prescription drugs dispensed to beneficiaries.
The settlement stems from a 2005 lawsuit alleging that McKesson violated state and federal false claims acts. The company agreed in April to pay $187 million to settle the federal government’s share of Medicaid costs. The $151 million agreement settles the states’ portion of the case.
McKesson representative Kris Fortner said the claims against the company were without merit and the settlement is “in the best interest of our employees, customers, suppliers and shareholders.”
Maine expects to receive the settlement funds this fall, said Assistant Attorney General Michael Miller, director of the office’s Healthcare Crimes Unit.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Courtesy of the BEST managed healthcare system in the world. So I hear…
Alright!!!
Nutting is FINALLY going to pay back the rest of the millions he ripped off Maine taxpayers for?
Oh wait.
Not him. He doesn’t have to pay.
bleh
Don’t be “Nutty” Tyke. Mr. Nutting is the “Golden Boy” of the GOP/Tea Party of Maine. They actually love and respect him for what he did to all those old retired folks on Mainecare. Had he managed to rip them off for an even two million they would have made him Vice Emperor serving at the Emperor’s feet right beside his daughter and brother-in-law.
You’ve got to be Speaker of the House to get away with that kind of crap. They should have asked Bob how it’s done.
That’s odd. Isn’t $1.4 million the same amount that Nutting stole from Medicare? Consumer Reports just did an excellent investigative article about how private health insurers calculate provider reimbursements. As long as you’re a member of the old boy network, you’ll have nothing to worry about.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/07/that-ct-scan-costs-how-much/index.htm
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The State owes the Fed millions, the drug companies owe the state over a million and THE POOREST folks in Maine owe the state millions…..but they only have to pay 5 bucks a week-I wonder if the feds will let the state pay that way.
Wonder if we can get a money exchange along with the insurance exchange so all these people can pay up.
Good job AG Schneider!
??? — the only part Mr Schneider had in this was to annouce the settlement. This was a class action started in 2005 — the only remote claim would be for the Baldacci Admin for joining the class action and that would be a stretch
John sold his soul long ago for federal $$$
He must have been preparing for his stint at AG. He just knew that in 7 years he’d get credit for someone else’s work.
He is just the messanger—- the feds pulled this off!
Yes thank you for accepting the GOP Bribe! Spend it wisely the sheep will just keep grazing and Rush will explain this away for the faithful.
Don’t fret the Federal Reserve can print more debt script to fill in the blanks
What about Nutting!?
He is a NUT!!!!
The CEO of McKesson Corporation is a man named John Hammergren. USA Today reported his total remuneration in 2011 to be in excess of $145,000,000, mostly stock options. And McKesson has been overcharging Medicaid. Does anyone else find this a little disturbing?
Yes, but when I say so I’m accused of being anti big corporation and anti filthy rich, which I sort of am.
Typical!
Do your research on John first. You’ll see how he turned around a company that was caught up in a scandal.
Well that will help, then the State only owes the Feds around $8 Million now, of course if President Obama hadn’t promised Israel another $71 million, maybe we wouldn’t have had to pay anything!!!
$1.4 million to the Mainecare program. Does that mean that now some more people who really need health insurance, who qualify, (but are told there are too many cuts to receive it) will get it…….or does it mean more methadone for the druggies??
Or does it mean more money for the owners of those clinics which are taking advantage of drug addicts at your expense.
True. But I see it as this, the owners of those clinics, with the help of the politicians, USING the drug addict as a way of taking advantage at our expense. The drug problem is only getting WORSE and methadone is NOT working. Most have been in the program for YEARS and it’s being allowed. I have a friend, who is slowly dying from cancer and has applied for Mainecare. She was told she is “on a waiting list” for benefits. The people who REALLY need it, can’t get it, but the druggies remain. My friend is constantly stressed out about her mounting medical bills, which is NOT good for her health……so to me, the government is allowing her to die, while keeping the druggies alive!
Nothing to do with anything but what is up with Bill Schneider’s teeth? yuck…look how yellow they are. Is he a smoker?
The yellow is from Sulfur which is prevalent in the current GOP lead state of Maine. You can smell it when you get near Discusta these days!
Can’t the BDN get another picture of Schneider that is not so disturbing. My gut from this picture is never to trust him, he looks dishonest. That may be true, but may be just perception.
That’s funny, I was thinking he looks a little shady too.
It makes me angry to think many MaineCare recipients were dropped during the last budget cuts. Meanwhile, some of the budget cuts may have been based on the high cost of medications charged by this greedy corporation. I hope McKesson lost its contract to provide medicaid prescriptions. Anything less is unacceptable.