The bipartisan letter, authored by the Attorneys General of Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Arkansas, demands Congress take decisive action to reform the way PBMs conduct business and bring more transparency to the public. “PBMs were originally intended to reduce the financial burden on Americans for prescription drugs, the reality today is starkly different,” Yost said. “Instead of prioritizing the interests of patients, PBMs have shifted their focus to maximizing profits and marginalizing local pharmacies from the marketplace.” The letter emphasizes the urgent need for legislative action to address potential abuses within the PBM industry. Specifically, the coalition highlights three bills – the DRUG Act (S1542/HR6283), Protecting Patients Against PBM Abuses Act (HR2880), and the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act (HR5378) – as crucial pieces of legislation t…

The coalition of attorneys general remains committed to advocating for meaningful reforms that prioritize the needs and interests of patients over profit-driven motives within the PBM industry. A PBM is a third-party company that functions as an intermediary between insurance providers and pharmaceutical manufacturers, ostensibly to reduce the cost of prescription medication for its clients. It typically negotiates discounts and rebates with drug manufacturers, contracts with pharmacies, and develops and maintain drug formularies, or lists of covered drugs. Because a PBM ultimately decides which drugs it covers, it can bargain for rebates from drug manufacturers who want to get their products on its “formularies,” or lists of covered drugs. As a result of this leverage, PBMs essentially force drug manufacturers to raise list prices in order to provide ever-growing reb…