A group of lawmakers recently introduced a bill to protect patients and pharmacies from harmful pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) practices.
U.S. Reps. Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R-GA), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), and Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) recently detailed the Protecting Patients Against PBM Abuses Act. The measure delinks PBM compensation from the cost of medications; bans patient steering and spread pricing; increases transparency; and addresses conflicts of interest.
“PBMs prey on patients and independent pharmacies, driving up costs without providing any real value to patients and our health care system,” Carter said. “This strong legislation will shield the millions of victims from PBM abuse and predatory pricing techniques that take advantage of patients and bleed pharmacies dry.”
Blunt Rochester said one of her priorities has been to lower healthcare costs for Americans.
“Many factors contribute to high healthcare costs, and one of the most insidious are the opaque practices of Pharmacy Benefit Managers or PBM’s,” Blunt Rochester said. “That’s why I’m proud to join Rep. Carter in introducing the Protecting Patients Against PBM Abuses Act to realign incentives and ensure that PBMs aren’t raising prices on consumers to rake in record profits and increasing transparency so that patients, plans, and other stakeholders can make informed decisions about their health care.”
Malliotakis said there is little to no transparency regarding PBM practices.
“Because of this, ‘Mom & Pop’ pharmacies in my district are being crushed, and the costs are being passed down to consumers,” Malliotakis said. “I’m proud to join my colleagues in introducing this critical piece of legislation which cracks down on the exploitative pricing techniques of PBMs and works to make pharmaceuticals more affordable.