JACKSON — Attorney General Jim Hood has asked the federal government to give him until Jan. 30 to file documents supporting Mississippi’s effort to keep $17 million from a settlement with pharmaceutical companies accused of inflating wholesale prices.
Alper Ozinal, spokesman for the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, tells the Clarion-Ledger that the agency had received Hood’s extension request.
“We are willing to work with the state and review any supporting claim data that may offset the amount due related to the settlements,” Ozinal said Tuesday.
Hood claims the state doesn’t owe anything, because the companies paid the federal government under separate settlements.
CMMS sent a letter to the state Division of Medicaid last month staking a claim on $17 million of the settlement money.
Hood’s office reached the $20 million settlement with GlaxoSmithKline, Aventis, Schering/Warrick and Mylan in February. He said in March he hoped the money would be used for mental health programs, and he presented a check to the treasury last fall.
CMMS says states must pay the federal share of any overpayments recovered through lawsuits if they cannot show that the federal government already has benefited through its own settlements.
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