January 22 Squawk on the Street highlights need for PBM reform, a key piece of NACDS’ “Four Wins to Make America Healthy Again”
In December, President Trump pledged to take on the middlemen in two national TV appearances in one week
“This is an important moment to fix lingering and devastating problems and to leverage tremendous opportunities for Americans and for the pharmacies and pharmacists who serve them.”
NACDS: “The problems of big-PBM tactics remain obvious. The bipartisan and broadly-backed solutions remain ready in Congress. Time is wasting – as is Americans’ money. It’s time to stop this rip-off and to deliver a win for the American people.”
NACDS’ all-levels and all-branches of government approach to PBM reform prioritizes the enactment, implementation, enforcement, and oversight of reforms.
By finishing this job, Congress would turn momentum into results and make the “most significant federal progress ever in addressing PBMs’ ‘pharmaceutical benefit manipulation’”
At a news conference today at Mar-a-Lago, President-elect Donald Trump said the following:
“We are paying far too much, because we are paying far more than other countries. We have laws that make it impossible to reduce [drug costs] and we have a thing called a ‘middleman’ … that makes more money than the drug companies, and they don’t do anything except they’re middlemen. We are going to knock out the middleman.” WATCH THE CLIP
Trump’s statement today follows his remarks on December 8 during an interview on Meet the Press:
“We’re going to do a lot of things. Number one, we’re going to reduce prices – because the middleman makes more money than the drug companies in all fairness to the drug companies. There’s a middleman that nobody even knows who they are.” WATCH THE CLIP MORE PBM REFORM NEWS
“Yes” on CR with specific Medicaid and Medicare reforms is essential to confront PBM tactics that inflate American’s prescription drug costs, force pharmacy closures, and block access to Americans’ pharmacies of choice
NACDS: “As the continuing resolution is finalized, Americans and their pharmacies are watching and waiting for real PBM reform now to lower drug costs and to protect pharmacy access”.
The overwhelming realization is that PBM reform must be included in 2024 year-end Congressional legislation
Arlington, VA – National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) President and CEO Steven C. Anderson and National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) CEO Douglas Hoey issued the following statement regarding the U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter-led letter to Congressional leadership on Dec. 6:
“We applaud the bipartisan members of Congress who are standing strong for urgently needed pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) reforms in the waning days of the 118th Congress. More than a quarter of the U.S. House of Representatives demonstrated their support, citing the need for immediate action to address market-dominant PBM middlemen tactics that inflate Americans’ prescription drug costs, force pharmacy closures, and block access to Americans’ pharmacies of choice.
“We also laud the commitment of other Republican and Democratic members of the House of Representatives and of the Senate who are working hard to deliver comprehensive PBM reform before year’s end.
“Every day of delay is another day that PBMs are allowed to sustain their predatory practices. Congress must enact, this year, the bipartisan reforms in Medicare and Medicaid that have advanced on a bipartisan basis in the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R. 5378, the ‘Lower Costs, More Transparency Act’) and the Senate Finance Committee (S. 2973, the ‘Modernizing and Ensuring PBM Accountability (MEPA) Act’ and S.3430, the ‘Better Mental Health Care, Lower-Cost Drugs, and Extenders (BETTER) Act of 2023’).
“Enacting the Medicaid spread-pricing ban and the protections for Medicare ‘reasonable and relevant contract terms’ are vital for vulnerable Americans’ access to their medications and to needed health and wellness services.
“Americans and their pharmacies desperately await Congressional action.” READ THE CONGRESSIONAL LETTER
NACDS represents traditional drug stores, supermarkets and mass merchants with pharmacies. Chains operate over 40,000 pharmacies, and NACDS’ member companies include regional chains, with a minimum of four stores, and national companies. Chains employ nearly 3 million individuals, including 155,000 pharmacists. They fill over 3 billion prescriptions yearly, and help patients use medicines correctly and safely, while offering innovative services that improve patient health and healthcare affordability. NACDS members also include more than 900 supplier partners and over 70 international members representing 21 countries. Please visit NACDS.org.
Founded in 1898, the National Community Pharmacists [ READ MORE ]
