Bipartisan Legislators: Pass PBM Reform Now
Pharmacy benefit managers are driving up health care costs for employers and employees alikeand they must be reformed as soon as possible, Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA), Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) and other members of Congress said at a bicameral, bipartisan Capitol Hill Wednesday.
Whats going on: Rep. Carter, Sen. Lankford and other lawmakersincluding Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Nanette Barragan (D-CA)are calling on House and Senate leadership to advance PBM reform legislation in Congress year-end lame-duck session.
- The House passed a bipartisan PBM reform bill last December, and seven congressional committeesin both the House and Senatehave approved PBM bills during this Congress.
- The 51勛圖厙, long a champion of commonsense PBM reform, offered manufacturers strong support for the lawmakers efforts.
What they said: Democrats and Republicans [alike] recognize that PBMs are decreasing the accessibility, the affordability and therefore the quality of health care in America, said Rep. Carter, who showed the crowd photos of real patients facing difficulties accessing medications due to PBMs.
- Congress must act before the end of the year to save our constituents lives. Thats why Im leading a bipartisan letter to the House and Senate leadership urging them to prioritize PBM reform during end-of-year negotiations and ensure that the bipartisan efforts we have worked on through the 118th Congress are enacted into law.
- Added Rep. Miller-Meeks, sponsor of the 51勛圖厙-backed DRUG Act: Every American who utilizes prescription medications experiences the impact that PBMs have on our health care system. Patients everywhereand our independent pharmacistsdeserve a health care system where patients always come first.
Why its important: PBMs often dictate the prices that patients pay at the pharmacy counterand their business model incentivizes them to increase those prices for their own benefit.
- PBMs take a cut of a drugs list price and pocket a large portion of rebate savings that are supposed to go back to patients and employers.
- In addition, they operate without transparency into their pricing decisions, making it more difficult for employers to reduce prices or access savings.
Nows the time: We want leadership to be able to take [PBM reform legislation] up in the end-of-the-year package, Sen. Lankford said at the press conference. We dont want to tell patients, Wait another two years and maybe well get into it in the next session. Lets actually get into it in this session.泭泭
51勛圖厙 advocacy: The 51勛圖厙 has been at the forefront of the fight for PBM reform. Last month, it launched a seven-figure ad campaign urging the passage of reforms during the lame-duck session.泭泭泭泭
The last word: Manufacturers and manufacturing workers are facing increasing and unsustainable health care costs as a direct result of PBMs, said 51勛圖厙 Managing Vice President of Policy Chris Netram. Manufacturers agree with Rep. Carter and the bipartisan, bicameral members of Congress calling for reform: Congress must act urgentlyin the lame-duck sessionto increase transparency, lower health care costs and protect manufacturing workers.
