Wednesday, December 4th 2024, 10:44 pm
An effort to keep independent pharmacies open and lower prescription drug prices, in Oklahoma and across the country, is gaining steam on Capitol Hill.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers — including a member of the state’s congressional delegation — is pushing for passage of PBM reform legislation before the end of the year.
PBMs, or pharmacy benefit managers, are the so-called middlemen between the companies that manufacture prescription drugs and pharmacies that sell them to consumers.
Senator James Lankford has been pushing to reform PBM practices for years — he says he doesn’t want to put them out of business, even though their aim seems to be putting independent pharmacies out of business.
"You can call any independent pharmacist,” said Lankford (R-OK) in an interview Wednesday, “and ask them what is the greatest threat to your business, and it is the pharmacy benefit manager."
Lankford and other members of Congress who spoke Wednesday at a news conference at the Capitol say they are seeing pharmacies shut their doors regularly because they can no longer afford to keep operating.
"One pharmacy a day in America,” Lankford says is closing, on average. “That is affecting all of us, and in rural areas you get healthcare very often from your pharmacist."
Lankford is a leading voice in a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers who say it's long past time to rein in PBMs and put patients before profit.
"Take a look at these photographs,” said Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA), referring to dozens of placards arranged on the lawn around the podium, “these are real people, real patients, they exhibit only a fraction of the Americans, who are taken advantage of by PBMs every single day."
Pharmacy Benefit Managers are third-party companies, often owned by insurance companies, that manage prescription drug benefits for clients like health insurers, employers, and Medicare Part D drug plans.
They argue that drug prices would be much higher without them, but Congressman Carter, who was a pharmacist himself, says they are driven solely by profit, and they need reform.
"We have an opportunity right now,” Carter said at Wednesday’s news conference, “an opportunity to advance bipartisan legislation that increases reporting requirements, which would heighten transparency and shine a light on the opaque practices of these PBMs."
"This is an issue that we need to resolve,” echoed Lankford, “and we don’t need to tell rural pharmacies, in patience, wait another two years and maybe we’ll get into it in the next session. Let’s actually deal with it right now in this session."
Carter’s legislation has passed the House and is currently in the Senate, awaiting action by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
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