WASHINGTON — National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) President and CEO Steven C. Anderson issued the below statement today, following the Trump administration’s announcement of a pharmaceutical website and drug-pricing initiative:
“The President’s announcement reflects the reality that pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) tactics are exploding Americans’ prescription drug costs, and this action is an attempt to strike a blow against the PBMs’ manipulation and self-enrichment in the prescription drug supply chain.
“Importantly, though many of the details have not been released, this critical point must be emphasized: the health and wellness of Americans relies on their pharmacists and pharmacies – the most accessible and among the most trusted healthcare destinations. Americans’ access to their pharmacies, the face of neighborhood healthcare, must not be a casualty in the effort to address the harms that PBMs have inflicted.
“As we have stated and demonstrated, NACDS is committed to working with the Administration and with the Congress to lower healthcare costs and to prevent healthcare from falling out of reach of rural and vulnerable Americans. Comprehensive PBM reform remains a necessity, and it is unthinkable that the broadly-supported reforms that are ready to go in Congress have not yet been enacted. Congress and the Administration must prioritize that now – alongside strategic approaches to enhance Americans’ access to pharmacist-provided services that the American people now expect.”
NCPA Statement:
“The president is absolutely right that American patients and taxpayers should not be subsidizing lower drug prices around the world,” said NCPA CEO B. Douglas Hoey. “He is also right that we need to reduce our reliance on foreign countries that now supply the active ingredients for some of our most critical drugs. However, we don’t want the president or Congress to lose their focus on reforming the health insurance/PBM conglomerates that have created this crisis in the first place.
"In addition to the Pfizer agreement (the administration is currently negotiating with other companies on similar deals), the White House also rolled out TrumpRx, which it says will allow patients to buy some drugs online at lower rates negotiated by the government. Several of the big drug makers already sell some of their drugs directly to consumers. The proliferation of websites, said Hoey, is an attempt to bypass PBMs and insurance companies that make massive profits from a confusing web of schemes that raise drug costs for patients and taxpayers. But it doesn’t solve the problem for the millions of Americans with prescription drug coverage whose drug costs are hyperinflated by rebates, fees and other PBM deceptive practices because these direct-to-consumer programs are cash-based models.
“The insurance companies and their PBMs get paid more when patients and taxpayers pay more. That’s the problem. All these manufacturer websites are workarounds. They don’t fix the heart of the problem,” said Hoey. “Reforming the way PBMs and insurance companies operate is the only solution. There’s a reform package in Congress that has wide bipartisan support. Congress should pass it now. With the president’s signature, Americans will benefit from the lower prescription drug prices they deserve.”
Hoey also stressed that any solution must preserve the patient-pharmacist relationship.
“While there are very few details, TrumpRx appears to bypass the relationship between patients and their local physicians and pharmacists. Direct-to-Patient programs can be dangerous,” he said. “A website can’t counsel patients, recognize other potential health risks, or follow up to make sure patients are taking their medicines at the right time and in the right amount. The unreliability, unpredictability, and risks of mail order drugs is already well documented. We strongly support the president’s goal of lowering drug prices, which is why we urge him to maintain his focus on PBM reform even as he implements these new programs.”
Bill Schiffner
