News from the fight to
#SaveIndependentPharmacy
New York Times The Middlemen series
Indiana paid $7 billion to administer prescription drug benefits in five-year period according to new report
Indiana lawmakers are calling for more oversight of “pharmacy benefit managers,” or “PBMs” for short, following a report presented to the Health Care Cost Oversight Task Force this week. According to that preliminary report, Indiana paid $7 billion to administer prescription drug benefits for Hoosiers enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program and state employee plan through FY 2017 through FY 2022.
Senator Wiener Responds to Governor’s Veto of Pharmacy Benefit Manager Bill
California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed legislation to rein in anticompetitive practices pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are using to drive up prescription drug prices and forcing independent pharmacies out of business. As a result, California remains one of the only states to leave the industry, which controls virtually all prescription drugs on the market, essentially unregulated. As a result, Californians will continue to pay more for health care and will continue to have limited access to their neighborhood pharmacies.
Senator Wiener’s Landmark Prescription Drug Prices Bill Heads to the Governor
The landmark piece of legislation would have enacted the nation’s strongest regulations to rein in exploitative behavior by pharmacy benefit managers, also known as PBM abuse. The bill passed with bipartisan support in the state legislature only to be vetoed by California Governor Gavin Newsom.
These middlemen say they keep drug prices low. California lawmakers don’t buy it
Pharmacy benefit managers attempt to negotiate cost savings for insurers. California is considering new rules that would require them to pass their discounts on to consumers.
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.
With Iowa losing pharmacies, lawmakers advance new rules
Bill establishes stronger requirements for pharmacy benefit managers
NY Governor Hochul Launches New Statewide Medicaid Pharmacy Benefit Program
Long-Awaited Transition to NYRx Provides Eight Million Members Expanded Access to Prescription Medications at More Than 5,000 Pharmacies Statewide
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 .