Imagine choosing between a medication that controls your high cholesterol and heart problems, or taking a medication that keeps you from being readmitted to the hospital for a mental health condition. Or, imagine running out of your anti-anxiety medication and enduring 2 painful weeks before the pharmacy has approval to refill your prescription. 

Maybe you don’t have to imagine those scenarios because you’re one of thousands of Illinois people already facing the harsh reality of the state’s new drug limits for Medicaid recipients.

This past summer, Gov. Quinn signed the Save Medicaid Access and Resources Together Act – “SMART” – restricting Medicaid patients to four prescriptions a month. Many patients rely on a combination of five or more medications to keep them healthy and avoid more costly care.