Bluebird, Vertex Therapies Near Medicaid Use in 35 States (2)

In a speech Friday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said 35 states have agreed to participate in a federal pilot program aimed at helping Medicaid patients access costly gene therapies for sickle cell disease.

The states represent about 84% of Medicaid patients with the blood disorder, Kennedy said in an address to the National Council of Insurance Legislators, according to a person who attended the meeting but was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

More than half of Americans with sickle cell disease are on Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor. ...