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WASHINGTON—The National Association of Chain Drug Stores calls for immediate action on pharmacy benefit manager reform. Reports indicate potential movement in the U.S. Senate through the “hotline” process.
Steven C. Anderson, NACDS President and CEO, emphasized the urgent need for legislative action in a statement, citing the detrimental effects of PBM practices on pharmacies and consumers.
“By whatever means, the consensus PBM reforms are long overdue and need to be enacted now. The negative impacts of inaction are mounting for Americans and for their pharmacies. Every day of inaction means continued drug-price inflation for people, more pharmacies forced out of business, and reduced access to necessary medications and pharmacy services – all while the big PBM middlemen profit massively,” Anderson stated.
According to NACDS, pharmacies nationwide are closing at an alarming rate, with an average of 3.7 closures per day. Since 2018, more than 5,800 pharmacies have closed, including 1,338 closures in the past year alone. The association also noted that at least $300 million in inpatient savings have been unrealized since the end of the last Congress due to delays in enacting PBM reforms.
Anderson warned lawmakers against being swayed by PBM lobbying efforts, stating: “It is imperative that the Congress and the Administration not get sold a bill of goods from the big PBMs, whose scare tactics are cynical and whose promises are empty.”
Bipartisan efforts have brought PBM reform to the forefront, and NACDS is urging lawmakers to ensure its swift passage without political maneuvering. “PBM reform is ready to go, and that is the case thanks to extraordinary bipartisan work and agreement,” Anderson said. “NACDS praises this most recent effort to enact these reforms. NACDS urges that these reforms not become a political football in any way, and rather that they become the long-overdue and urgently-needed law of the land.”
