PROVIDENCE — The state has delayed plans to ask 14,000 impoverished Medicaid recipients to pay a portion of their prescription drug costs.

The policy, enacted as part of the state budget passed by the General Assembly this spring, was set to begin Monday. It would have required $1 and $3 copays for generic and brand-name medications, respectively.

The new fee structure has been put on hold until Dec. 1 because of federal objections to part of the new policy. The decision has nothing to do with an outcry from social-welfare advocates at a public hearing earlier in the month, according to Department of Human Services Director Gary Alexander.

Several people testified that the copays unfairly target those least able to afford them, especially those on several medications and those with sick children. Fee-for-service Medicaid recipients affected by the new copays are generally adults under the age of 65 suffering from disabilities. Most live on monthly incomes fixed at $680.

After the hearing, the Department of Human Services crafted regulations that would have exempted approximately 1,500 Medicaid recipients who qualify for nursing-home care but receive treatment at home. Alexander said the department specifically exempted that population to encourage home care, which is preferred by some patients and is far less expensive for the state.

The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, however, contacted the state last week, objecting to the exemption. Federal officials did not respond to a message seeking comment yesterday.

While the DHS has yet to receive written notification of the objection, it plans to redraft the regulations and hold another public hearing next month. Alexander expects the process to be cleaned up by Dec. 1.

He did not immediately know how the delay would affect the $600,000 in revenue projected from the fees.

Meanwhile, advocates for those affected by the copays continue to call on state leaders to reverse the policy.

Anthony Solomon, the former state treasurer and longtime owner of Anthony’s Drug Store in the Olneyville section of Providence, primarily serves a low-income, urban clientele. He has run the Manton Avenue drugstore for the last 50 years.

“They passed a bill that’s hurting a segment of the population that doesn’t deserve to be hurt,” Solomon said of the General Assembly. He flipped through a stack of papers as he spoke. They show that nearly half of the 250 prescriptions he filled Thursday are on fee-for-service Medicaid.

“I know the people; they don’t have the money,” Solomon said. “I know just what’s going to happen. They’re not going to take their medicine.”

Solomon also worries about the impact of the new policy on urban pharmacies like his.

A caveat in federal law restricts pharmacists from denying medication to Medicaid recipients below the federal poverty line, regardless of their ability to pay the new fees. If a recipient cannot afford the copay, the burden falls to the pharmacist.

“They did a disservice to all of us. It has to be corrected in January,” Solomon said of the month when the General Assembly reconvenes.

Alexander said he sympathized with Solomon’s concerns. “Certainly, we don’t want to put any kind of burden on small business. That’s not what economic development is about,” Alexander said. “But we believe this is a very modest co-payment we’re asking for.”

He continued: “We want to do the best for the citizens we serve. We don’t want to unfairly harm anybody, whether they are a recipient or small business. But the bottom line is we have a structural deficit we have to deal with.”

The Department of Human Services’ next public hearing is scheduled for Oct. 13 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Department of Labor and Training on the Pastore Complex in Cranston.

speoples@projo.com