Are states obligated to provide expensive hepatitis C drugs?

Federal lawsuits against states that have restricted expensive hepatitis C drugs to Medicaid patients and prisoners could cost states hundreds of millions of dollars. The handful of class actions have all been filed in the last 8 months in federal courts in Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. The high cost of the drugs has prompted state Medicaid programs and prisons to restrict them to people in the advanced stages of the disease. Patients with less advanced hepatitis C may develop cirrhosis, liver cancer, or liver failure, which may necessitate a liver transplant.