First, the pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) pushed opioids onto prescribers, helping fuel the opioid epidemic.
Now, the PBMs are charging a higher co-pay in Medicare for the first painkiller on the market to match opioids for acute pain. Patients in pain who want a non-addictive option will have to pay more.
Democratic @SenWarren and Republican @HawleyMO have introduced a bill to break up companies that own health insurers and medical providers.
"Love it," says @mcuban.
"They control everything. Literally what those companies do defines the cost of healthcare in this country."
"When a few PBMs dominate a market, they hold outsized power over how much patients pay for drugs, where they can fill their prescriptions and whether their essential medications are covered."
https://t.co/GzClXX5Ouv
Long Overdue. We need similar policy reform in Massachusetts.
Congress Reins In Drug Middlemen in Effort to Lower Prescription Prices https://t.co/faWUtdmzt6
Reforming pharmacy benefit managers is a bipartisan issue that saves taxpayers money, lower Rx co-pays, and supports small business. Virtually the only people opposed are health-insurance lobbyists, who fall back on threatening to raise premiums.
Instead of standing tall, Speaker Johnson lost his nerve last-minute last year. This year, lawmakers can't let him flinch.