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New York Times The Middlemen series
Legalized Racketeering? How PBMs Skirt the Law to Rake in Billions
Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) have been under scrutiny lately for their actions as middlemen in the flow of prescription drugs from manufacturers to patients. But perhaps their worst actions are buried within a maze of consolidation and paperwork. Big Insurance has consolidated the entire pharmaceutical benefit, claim, and dispensing sector to squeeze as much money out of patients as possible.
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.
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 .