Schwarzenegger

ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

I. INTRODUCTION

On September 80, 2009, plaintiffs, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (“NACDS”) and the National Community Pharmacists Associations (“NCPA”), filed the instant action. On October 2, 2009, plaintiffs filed an amended complaint (“FAC”) against defendants Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of the State of California; Kim Belshe, Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency; David Maxwell-Jolly, Director the California Department of Health Care Services; and the California Department of Health Care Services (the “Department”). The Department is a California agency charged with the administration of California’s Medicaid program, Medi-Cal. Plaintiffs represent certain Medi-Cal pharmacy providers.

Plaintiffs seek to enjoin defendants from “reducing by, on average, slightly more than four percent (4%) Medicaid reimbursement based on Average Wholesale Price (“AWP”) for drug products paid to pharmacies for dispensing prescription drugs reimbursed” by Medi-Cal (the “AWP reductions”). FAC at 2. Plaintiffs allege that the implementation of the AWP reductions violates Title XIX of the Social…