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WASHINGTON — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) is applauding the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance for its bipartisan efforts to crack down on pharmacy benefit managers (PBM). The Committee’s jurisdiction over Medicare and Medicaid makes its work crucial for achieving real and comprehensive reform of pharmaceutical middleman tactics.
On Wednesday, the Committee held a legislative markup on a set of PBM proposals that it says “will modernize federal prescription drug programs and put a stop to practices by pharmacy benefit managers that are driving up drug costs for patients and taxpayers.” The Committee advanced the comprehensive PBM reform package, the Modernizing and Ensuring PBM Accountability Act, on a bipartisan vote of 26-1.NACDS president and CEO Steven Anderson said: “The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday demonstrated a bipartisan and extraordinary commitment to patients and to the pharmacies that serve them. NACDS has emphasized that real PBM reform must include Medicare and Medicaid.“Two bills – S. 1038 and S. 2052 – are vital for real PBM reform, and for addressing ‘pharmaceutical benefit manipulation’ that harms the most vulnerable in the Medicaid and Medicare programs.“The Senate Finance Committee’s work to date includes many vital aspects of these two bills, and NACDS encourages the Committee to keep building on its highly appreciated work as the Congressional Budget Office provides more of the needed scoring.”NACDS looks forward to continuing to work with leaders in the U.S. Congress to stop the manipulation by PBM go-betweens that increases patients’ medication costs, limits patients’ choice of pharmacies, restricts access to medicines that are right for them, and jeopardizes the pharmacies and pharmacy teams on whom patients rely.Specifically, NACDS looks forward to working on a bipartisan basis throughout the U.S. Congress to implement NACDS’ Principles of PBM Reform. NACDS’ Principles of PBM reform include: stopping explosive retroactive fees; stopping below-cost reimbursement; stopping the gaming of performance measures; stopping ‘specialty definitions’ from steering patients from their pharmacy; stopping mandatory mail-order; stopping limited networks; stopping overwhelming audits; and stopping the undercutting of PBM reform laws.In advance of the markup, NACDS released a video message reminding the U.S. Congress that true and comprehensive PBM reform must include Medicare and Medicaid.
