The states also run the risk of violating laws governing interstate commerce, he said. Needless to say, we're very interested and watching closely. The states are focused on controlling the rate of drug cost increases and don't envision the forum as a way of cutting pharmaceutical spending, said Smith, who received a Friday morning call from an irate drug company representative seeking information about the meeting. Overall, prescription drugs still account for less than 10 cents of every dollar Americans spend on health care - but that cost is often the first to directly pinch people's pocketbooks, said Linda Elam, a spokeswoman for the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit organization that studies health care issues. Last year, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont organized a regional buying pool to negotiate lower drug costs and to provide discounted prices for the states' 330,000 Medicaid recipients.
Officials hope to expand it later to include state employees and others.
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