News from the fight to
#SaveIndependentPharmacy
New York Times The Middlemen series
High insulin prices spur a federal lawsuit against three pharmacy benefit managers
The federal government is suing some big pharmacy benefit managers over a system of drug rebates that regulators say has made the price of insulin soar for diabetic patients.
FTC head Lina Khan fighting Big Tech, Big Pharma and Big Groceries as trustbuster
FTC Chair Lena Khan was featured on a segment of 60 Minutes this past Sunday. The youngest-ever chair of the Federal Trade Commission sat down with Lesley Stahl to discuss how corporate consolidation and anti-competitive business practices are driving up prices throughout the U.S. economy.
Bruised by Government Report, Cigna's Pharmacy Business Sues the Federal Trade Commission
Whistleblower, former Cigna VP, and reformed insurance propagandist Wendell Potter takes you behind the scenes to provide a glimpse into the reasoning behind the lawsuit his former company filed this week against the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
FTC Sues Prescription Drug Middlemen for Artificially Inflating Insulin Drug Prices
Caremark, Express Scripts, Optum, and their affiliates created a broken rebate system that inflated insulin drug prices, boosting PBM profits at the expense of vulnerable patients, the FTC alleges.
Rally outside Optum HQ brings debate over pharmacy benefits managers to Twin Cities
Patients, providers, and legislators gathered to allege biggest players are ballooning drug costs while running independent pharmacies out of business; Optum denied claims.
Chairman Comer Calls on PBM Executives to Correct Hearing Testimony
At the House Oversight Committee’s hearing, the PBM chief executives made statements that contradict the Committee’s and the Federal Trade Commission’s findings about the PBMs’ self-benefitting practices that jeopardize patient care, undermine local pharmacies, and raise prescription drug prices. The chief executives for CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and Optum Rx claimed they do not steer patients to PBM-owned pharmacies. The executives also made claims contradicting the Committee’s and FTC’s findings regarding contract negotiations, contract opt outs, and payments to pharmacies.
Pharmacy benefit managers under fire in House hearing
Pharmacy benefit managers, the middlemen who negotiate drug prices for millions of Americans, were grilled at a congressional hearing on July 23rd.
Watch the full congressional hearing here.
Drug middlemen in the hot seat: Q&A with USC Schaeffer Center’s Erin Trish
Constantly rising prescription drug prices appear to be driven in part by a little-understood group of firms called “pharmacy benefit managers.” USC Schaeffer Center research on the topic has the attention of the FTC and Congress, which has called executives to testify next week.
FTC Releases Interim Staff Report on Prescription Drug Middlemen
Report details how prescription drug middleman profit at the expense of patients by inflating drug costs and squeezing Main Street pharmacies
The Opaque Industry Secretly Inflating Prices for Prescription Drugs
Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) are driving up drug costs for millions of people, employers and the government.
The second in “THE MIDDLEMEN” series of articles by reporters Rebecca Robins and Reed Abelson investigating PBMs.
How We Voted in 2016 Contributed to UnitedHealth's Acquisition of Change Healthcare
Also: Patient information may be even more at risk than we've been told.
Under threat from industry ‘middlemen,’ independent pharmacies gain allies in D.C., Frankfort
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear joined a White House roundtable discussion on prescription drug costs that also featured entrepreneur Mark Cuban and several community pharmacists from around the country.
The biggest Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) are profiting by systematically underpaying independent drugstores, creating “pharmacy deserts” across the country.
The third in “THE MIDDLEMEN” series of articles by reporters Rebecca Robins and Reed Abelson investigating PBMs .