Medicaid Drug Use Data Show High Costs and Wide Variation for Dual Eligibles.

Responsibility for drug coverage for over six million Medicare-Medicaid “dual eligibles†shifts from Medicaid to Medicare in January 2006 under the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. This issue brief summarizes new state-by-state data and a chartbook on Medicaid prescription drug use and reimbursement for 1999 to highlight issues for health plans providing the new Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit, states, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The data and chartbook provide the most comprehensive information currently available.