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The state of Iowa would launch a review of whether prescription drug industry middlemen are overcharging the state’s Medicaid program under a proposal approved by the Iowa House of Representatives.
Democratic Representative John Forbes proposed the audit after doing an initial review that he says indicates this might be a problem in Iowa. Forbes says the state of Ohio found pharmacy benefit managers overcharged its Medicaid program by more than 200-million dollars.
Representative Joel Fry, a Republican from Osceola, says “there was enough there” that he supports looking into the issue.
0411fry2: 10 “We look forward to the opportunity to make sure that the payments he is suggesting are off—that we understand those better and figure out if we need to do something there for oversight.”
The House approved the proposal unanimously. It now goes to the Senate as part of a budget bill.
Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker will hold his first Sioux City campaign event of the 2020 election cycle on Monday.
Booker, a U.S. senator from New Jersey, is making a two-day swing through Iowa. His city event will be held at 6 p.m. Monday at the downtown Sioux City Public Museum, and at 9 a.m. Tuesday he will hold an education at the Sergeant Bluff-Luton High School in Sergeant Bluff.