Table 6
Summary of the effects of state Medicaid prescription drug policies on beneficiaries’ access to prescription drugs


  Probability of not getting prescription drug due to cost
Effects of individual cost control methods1  
  State requires preauthorization for certain drugs 4.5
  State requires copayment for drugs 3.1
   State limits the number of prescriptions -0.1
  State has "fail-first" requirement 8.5
  Generics required by state law 0.9
Effects of multiple cost control methods2  
  State has implemented 4 or 5 of the above methods 18.2*
  State has implemented 2 or 3 methods 10.0**

* Difference with persons in states that have 0 or 1 requirement is statistically significant at .05 level.
** Difference with persons in states that have 0 or 1 requirement is statistically significant at .10 level.

1Items were included individually in separate regressions.
2Items were included in a single regression.

Sample includes persons enrolled in Medicaid or state coverage programs.

Results based on OLS regression controlling for the following characteristics: age, gender, family income, marital status, presence of children in the family, race/ethnicity, whether interview conducted in English, general health status, chronic conditions, enrollment in HMO, Medicaid managed care penetration in the state, U.S. Census region, residence in metro or nonmetro area, number of physicians per 1,000 persons in the county of residence.