Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and Insurance Commissioner Andrew Stolfi jointly announced a $17 million settlement with managed health care giant Centene regarding pharmacy services and including allegations that the company overcharged Oregon’s Medicaid program for pharmaceutical costs.

Specifically, Centene served as both a pharmacy benefit manager, and provided managed care through a subsidiary to Oregon’s Medicaid program. In Oregon, that managed care organization was Trillium, which largely operated out of Lane County. The investigation focused on whether Centene failed to provide certain pharmacy discounts in Oregon ,resulting in inflated fees paid to Centene.

The settlement and investigation were jointly conducted by the Oregon Attorney General’s office, Department of Consumer Business Services (DCBS) and the Oregon Health Authority (OHA).

“This pharmacy partnership with Centene was meant to help some our most vulnerable, but this company took advantage of Oregon. This settlement is one more way we can help reign in the price of prescription drugs,” said Attorney General Rosenblum.

Insurance Commissioner Stolfi agreed:

“We cannot allow those most vulnerable in Oregon to be taken advantage of,” he said. “We will not only continue to hold companies accountable who do business here, but also to shine transparency on and bring down prescription drug prices for everyone.”