AP IMPACT: GOVT PAYS FOR RISKY UNAPPROVED DRUGS

AP IMPACT: GOVT PAYS FOR RISKY UNAPPROVED DRUGS
The story we found on yahoo news is very disturbing for a lot of different reasons. As health care costs go up and services through community mental health administrations dwindle, Medicaid sells out money for unapproved drugs.
WASHINGTON-The government is paying millions for risky medications that have never been reviewed for safety and effectiveness but are still covered under Medicaid, an Associated Press analysis of federal data has found.
Taxpayers have shelled out at least $200 million since 2004 for such drugs. Yet the Food and Drug Administration says unapproved prescription drugs are a public health problem, and some unapproved medications have been linked to dozens of deaths.
Millions of private patients are taking them as well, and their availability may create a false sense of security.
The AP analysis found that Medicaid, which serves low-income people, paid $198 million from 2004 to 2007 for more than 100 unapproved drugs. Data for 2008 were not available but medications against the FDA databases, using agency guidelines to determine if they were unapproved. The FDA says there may be thousands of such drugs on the market.
The medications are mainly for common conditions like colds and pain. They date back decades, before the FDA tightened its review of drugs in the early 1960's. The FDA says it's trying to squeeze them from the market, but conflicting federal laws allow the Medicaid health program for low-income people to pay them.
Medicaid officials acknowledge the problem, but say they need help from Congress to fix it. The FDA and Medicaid are part of the Health and Human Services Department, but the FDA has yet to compile a master list of unapproved drugs, and Medicaid—which may be the biggest purchaser—keeps paying.
“I think this is something we ought to look at very hard, and we ought to fix it,” said Medicaid chief Herb Kuhn. “It raise a whole set of questions, not only in the terms of safety, but in the efficiency of the program—to make sure we are getting the right set of services for beneficiaries.”
At a time when families, businesses and government are struggling with health care costs and 46 million people are uninsured, payments for questionable medications amount to an unplugged leak in the system.