Pennsylvanians insured by Medicaid who have Hepatitis C have often found themselves blocked from access to new treatments that can cure the disease.
But that may be changing.
While states’ finances have been groaning under the cost of new budget-busting treatments, a growing trend is to increase access to the costly treatments rather than keep it very limited.
Last week the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee of the state’s Medicaid program voted to ease the state’s current limits on access to treatment that costs between $31,000 and $58,000 a patient. Currently, about 30,000 Pennsylvania Medicaid beneficiaries suffer from Hepatitis C and another 10,000 are thought to be infected but not yet suffering.
The committee’s vote is advisory; the final decision rests with Department of Human Services Secretary Ted Dallas.
Learn more about the state of Hepatitis C treatment in Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program and the changes that may be coming in this Philadelphia Inquirer article.