Medicaid fraud is so pervasive, it’s hard to believe any serious effort at reform will get much traction anytime soon, at least before significant changes in Medicare occur. All any healthcare policy wonk can do is sigh.

The court papers claim that between 2000 and 2006, Wyeth offered steep discounts to thousands of hospitals for two versions of [pantoprazole], a drug that suppresses stomach acid. By law, manufacturers of brand-name drugs are required to offer the same rebates to state Medicaid programs that they provide to other customers.

Rebates offset the cost of drug for negotiating entities who chose to cover it. There is a loss to the pharma company, of course. But one can only surmise that Wyeth thought that even this amount was just too much of a liability to bear on its books. | LINK | US DOJ news release here

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