Congress continually struggles to find bipartisan reforms that improve affordability and increase the quality of care; reforming PBMs should be a no-brainer.
If lawmakers want to make pharmaceuticals more affordable, they should look past populist policies like price controls that will only make matters worse and set their sights on reforming the Pharmacy Benefit Manager market.
PBMs manage the drug benefits for insurers and negotiate discounts with drug manufacturers. You probably use one every time you go to the pharmacy to get your medications refilled and don’t even realize it. The top three PBMs, which process about 80% of all prescription claims, are health conglomerates that include major insurance companies.
PBMs argue that their negotiations lower drug costs, which logically makes sense but fails to account for an essential question: whose costs? When it comes to the drug market, this distinction is everything.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.
Why reforming PBMs is the key to lowering drug costs
Wayne H Winegarden
Congress continually struggles to find bipartisan reforms that improve affordability and increase the quality of care; reforming PBMs should be a no-brainer.
If lawmakers want to make pharmaceuticals more affordable, they should look past populist policies like price controls that will only make matters worse and set their sights on reforming the Pharmacy Benefit Manager market.
PBMs manage the drug benefits for insurers and negotiate discounts with drug manufacturers. You probably use one every time you go to the pharmacy to get your medications refilled and don’t even realize it. The top three PBMs, which process about 80% of all prescription claims, are health conglomerates that include major insurance companies.
PBMs argue that their negotiations lower drug costs, which logically makes sense but fails to account for an essential question: whose costs? When it comes to the drug market, this distinction is everything.
Read the op-ed here.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.