H‑0649.1   _____________________________________________

HOUSE BILL 1720

           _____________________________________________

State of Washington      57th Legislature     2001 Regular Session

By Representatives Edwards, Cody, Darneille, McDermott, Lovick, Hurst, Kagi, Fromhold, O'Brien, Romero, Hatfield, Linville, Conway, Ogden, Kessler, Keiser, Schual‑Berke, Wood and Simpson

Read first time 02/01/2001.  Referred to Committee on Health Care.

_1      AN ACT Relating to a federal medicaid demonstration waiver for

_2  prescription drug assistance; and creating a new section.

_3  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

_4      NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  The department of social and health

_5  services shall submit and, upon approval, implement a section 1115

_6  demonstration waiver request to the federal health care financing

_7  administration to establish a prescription drug assistance

_8  program.  The program must create an expanded coverage group

_9  composed of any medicare-covered individual with no medicare

10  supplement policy or retiree health benefit plan that covers

11  drugs, and other individuals with household incomes up to three

12  hundred percent of the federal poverty level, as adjusted annually

13  by the federal department of health and human services, who do not

14  have insurance coverage or other health benefits for prescription

15  drugs.  Individuals in this expanded coverage group will receive a

16  financial subsidy for prescription drugs equal to the average

17  rebate paid to the medicaid program under Title XIX of the federal

18  social security act by pharmaceutical manufacturers.

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