On August 13, 2015, CHLPI’s research on Medicaid policies for the usage of sofosbuvir to treat hepatitis C virus (HCV) throughout the United States was included in a recent article in the Huffington Post written by Ryan Clary, Executive director of the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable.
“A Time to Cure: The Growing Case for New Hepatitis C Treatments” calls for increased access to HCV medication which offer a cure rate of nearly 100 percent.
Excerpt from the article:
“According to new research led by the Center for Health Law and Policy at Harvard Law School, 42 state Medicaid programs with stringent restrictions for hepatitis C treatment may even be violating federal Medicaid law, which requires states to cover drugs consistent with their FDA labels.
Access for privately insured Americans is similarly dismal, with many health plans imposing comparable restrictions and then requiring exorbitant copays that place a cure squarely out of reach for most patients.
A growing body of research is also proving that these restrictions will have costly ramifications for both patient health and the U.S. health care system, especially as the baby boomer population–which is most at-risk for hepatitis C–reaches Medicare eligibility.”
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