This week, Gov. Charlie Baker (R) released his Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 budget request which includes a proposal for a 15 percent tax on opioid manufacturers on gross receipts from the sale of opioid products. This tax income would be used to pay for the $48 million proposed increase for treatment and other services. The total amount budgeted for these services will be $266 million. In addition, the Governor’s budget contains a provision which would give MassHealth the ability to negotiate directly with drug manufacturers over price and use a public rate-setting process for the high-cost prescription drugs similar to how rates for other Medicaid services are set.
For more information, please contact NACDS’ Ben Pearlman at 617-515-2603.