The goal is to ensure that Medicaid can get drug discounts similar to those provided to large customers in the private market, including companies like Caremark Rx and Medco Health Solutions that manage drug benefits for people who have health insurance through an employer. Congressional investigators have found that Medicaid pays 35 percent more than the lowest price available in the private market for some commonly used brand-name drugs.

States, which share the cost of Medicaid with the federal government, make the final decision on what pharmacies are paid, subject to federal limits.

The proposed rule would provide new data for states to use in their calculations, redefining the “average manufacturer price” for brand-name and generic drugs.

Consumers would not be directly affected by the proposed changes. But federal officials said they hoped consumers would press for lower drug prices after checking the price list, which will be posted on a Web site.

S. Lawrence Kocot, a senior adviser to the administrator at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the proposed rule would carry out provisions of a law, the Deficit Reduction Act, signed by President Bush on Feb. 8.

The law, and the proposed rule, would also limit payments to state Medicaid agencies for the aggregate costs of prescription drugs when a generic substitute is available.

Federal officials said the rule would save $8.4 billion over the next five years. That represents a 5.6 percent reduction in total projected Medicaid spending on prescription drugs in those years. The administration estimates that the federal government would save $4.9 billion, and the states would save $3.5 billion, if the proposed rule is adopted.

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