Grassley, Wyden Introduce Bill to Prevent Branded Drugmakers from Gaming Medicaid Rebates

Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) have introduced a bipartisan bill that would strengthen Medicaid’s capacity to go after drugmakers suspected of misclassifying branded drugs as generics.

The lawmakers, both members of the Senate Finance Committee, proposed the “Right Rebate Act,” which would close loopholes in the Medicaid program by giving HHS more authority to reclassify drugs and to recover incorrect rebate payments.

An HHS audit of the Medicaid program in 2017 found that the federal government lost $1.3 billion in rebates involving 885 misclassified drugs over five years.