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Kansas City Today

Kansas tried to hide an audit of its prescription drug prices

By Nomin Ujiyediin,
Byron J. Love
Published October 12, 2021 at 4:00 AM CDT
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Kansas taxpayers and state employees could be paying too much for prescription drugs, but a state-commissioned report doesn't actually say if customers got a bargain or got gouged. Kansas even tried to black out large swaths of the audit, but it botched many of the redactions.

Kansas taxpayers and state employees could be paying too much for medications. Kansas blacked out large swaths of a 16-page audit on prescription drug spending in response to a public records request. But the state botched many redactions, leaving much of the concealed text accessible.

Celia Llopis-Jepsen of the Kansas News Service was able to show several lawyers what the state intended to obscure, and those experts said it's likely the redactions were not allowed under state law. The audit itself also leaves many important questions unanswered — namely, whether the state employee health plan gave customers a good deal.

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Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Byron Love and edited by Gabe Rosenberg and C.J. Janovy.

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Kansas City Today health carehealth insurancepharmaceuticalpharmaciesprescription drugs
Nomin Ujiyediin
As a newscaster and a host of a daily news podcast, I want to deliver the most important and interesting news of the day in an engaging and easily understandable way. No matter where you live in the metro or what you’re interested in, I want you to learn something from each newscast or podcast – and maybe even give you something to talk about at the dinner table.
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Byron J. Love
As an on-demand producer, I am focused on using my skills and experiences across multiple digital applications, platforms and media fields to create community focused audio, video and on-demand products for KCUR Studios. The media that I produce aims to inform, entertain and connect with the Kansas City metro area as we continue to learn from each other. Email me at byronlove@kcur.org.
See stories by Byron J. Love
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