Senate committee approves Medicaid waiver bill

The Georgia Senate’s Health and Human Services Committee backed a bill that would allow Gov. Brian Kemp to ask the federal government for a Medicaid waiver and expand the program to some more low-income Georgians.

The committee was not allowed to consider an alternative bill from Senate Minority Leader Steve Henson. He wants Georgia to cover people earning less than $16,754 a year,* but Kemp and GOP senators set the income limit at $12,141 a year**.

The difference is notable because someone working full-time (40 hours a week) at Georgia’s minimum wage ($7.25 an hour) would bring in $14,500 a year — and thus earn too much to qualify for Medicaid under the approved plan.

Georgia has the third-highest rate of uninsured people in the country.

* 138% of the Federal Poverty Level — that’s $34,638 for a family of four
** 100% of the FPL — that’s $25,100 for a family of four

A career option you may not have considered

Prison pharmacist.

“[W]e have some of the biggest populations, with some of the most serious disease states, in pharmacy practice as a whole.”

Sign up now: Don’t miss your APhA immunization certificate

Sure, you learned how to give immunizations, but having an APhA certificate helps you differentiate yourself — and makes sure your patients are getting the best treatment.

That’s why GPhA is offering “APhA’s Pharmacy-Based Immunization Delivery: A Certificate Program for Pharmacists” on March 31 in Macon (on the campus of Mercer U).

This is always one of our hottest courses, so get to GPhA.org/2019immunization fast before the class fills!

Cancer-drug shortage

If you have bladder-cancer patients who take BCG, you’re not alone in realizing there’s a major shortage of the drug — and no comparable substitute.

Everyone’s to blame (including pharmacists)

A report published in JAMA found that everyone along the chain was responsible for giving too many people too much fentanyl.

After reviewing the data, the researchers concluded that prescribers, pharmacists, drug companies and the FDA — all of whom had agreed to special rules and monitoring for use of the powerful opioid — had allowed it to fall into the hands of thousands of inappropriate patients.

Humira falls from 1st place

In ad spending, that is. In January, Pfizer spent $6 million more on ads for Xeljanz than AbbVie did for Humira. (Most of that was to explain that “Xeljanz” is a drug and not the name of the 2020 Zarflaxian candidate for galactic emperor.)

Besides, you’d have to avoid sunlight

It doesn’t matter what you learned from watching “Twilight.” The FDA cautions people: Drinking the blood* of the young will not cure your ills.

* Technically it’s receiving plasma, but that would ruin the joke.

Elsewhere: Maryland’s price-gouging bill struck down

Maryland passed a law that would require generic-drug makers to justify big price hikes on common drugs. The Supreme Court just said “No” because it would affect trade beyond the state’s borders.