How Long Can Pharmacy Benefit Managers Go Unchecked? – IOTW Report

How Long Can Pharmacy Benefit Managers Go Unchecked?

Newsmax

Last week, a House subcommittee held a hearing on pharmacy benefit managers and their impact on the prices patients pay for prescription drugs.

The hearing speaks to voters’ concerns. Republicans and Democrats alike have identified the cost of prescription drugs as their No. 2 health care concern, according to polling this month from KFF.

And PBMs deserve congressional scrutiny. These middlemen have used their enormous influence in the drug market to make prescription medications unaffordable for a sizable share of patients.

PBMs are hired by insurers to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies over whether a health plan will cover their drugs — and at what price. They design formularies, or lists of covered drugs, and trade prime placement on those formularies for rebates and discounts from drug makers.

Just three PBMs — Express Scripts, Optum, and CVS Caremark — control 80% of the market. Their dominance gives them significant leverage over drug companies. MORE

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