A plan to cut Indiana Medicaid costs by limiting access to certain antidepressants and other mental health drugs has advocates worried that some patients could be denied the treatments they need.
The state budget bill moving through the Legislature would save an estimated $7 million each year by creating a list of preferred mental health drugs and winning larger rebates from their manufacturers.
Groups representing doctors and patients and their families say it could endanger people with attention deficit disorder, depression, schizophrenia and other mental illnesses because patients might be denied the drugs they need.
Indiana Medicaid chief Pat Casanova says there’s no intention to deny Medicaid clients needed medications. Her office found Indiana is among only nine states that do not manage mental health drugs.
