For many Medicaid patients, hepatitis C wonder drugs are out of reach

An estimated 3 million Americans have hepatitis C, and most of those infected don’t know it. But when they do find out, it’s becoming harder to get treatment, particularly for those with Medicaid, which relies on taxpayers and state funds to foot the bill — up to $100,000 per patient. New research from the University of Pennsylvania shows that Medicaid patients in the mid-Atlantic were four times as likely to be denied treatment as patients with private insurance. With drug costs rising across the industry, experts say the new pills could be the first test of how far America’s health care budget can be stretched.