Springfield, IL-(Effingham Radio)- Multiple drug manufacturers in Illinois are challenging a state law that expands the scope of a federal program under Medicare, arguing Illinois doesn’t have the authority to make changes to the program.
The federal 340B program allows drug manufacturers that take part in Medicaid to provide discounts to participating clinics and hospitals, often rural, which in-turn are supposed to use savings to reduce costs for patients, provide charity healthcare and more.
North Chicago-based Abbvie led a group of drug makers in a lawsuit filed Aug. 7 in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois.
State Rep. Anna Moeller, D-Elgin, sponsored the legislation and in May explained her reasoning for it to her colleagues.
The lawsuit contends that the Illinois law conflicts with what Congress intended for the program to be by loosening restrictions and requiring drug companies to sell their drugs at the statutorially reduced price to safety-net hospitals, clinics, and their chosen contract pharmacies, even if they don’t fall within the scope of the law.
Story from Illinois Radio Network
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