ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Legislation introduced today by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Ranking Member Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) would finally require accountability of pharmacy benefit managers that are systematically raising drug prices for patients and causing pharmacy deserts to expand, said the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA).
The PBM Price Transparency and Accountability Act, which is also sponsored by Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), contains the same key reforms that nearly passed last December but were stripped out at the last minute when spending negotiations broke down. One key reform would ensure that independent pharmacies receive a fair and transparent reimbursement under state Medicaid managed care programs. Another would require the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to define and enforce “reasonable and relevant” Medicare Part D contract terms, including those related to reimbursements.
“We would like to thank Chairman Crapo and Ranking Member Wyden for their hard work and steady support for these reforms. The president and Congress have expressed a strong interest in bringing down drug costs and these reforms are the most comprehensive and substantive way to make progress toward achieving that goal. NCPA urges Congress and the president to pass this legislation and sign it into law,” said NCPA CEO B. Douglas Hoey. “The PBMs and insurance conglomerates are driving up drug costs, crushing small-business pharmacies, and creating pharmacy deserts. There is wide bipartisan support for these reforms, so there are no excuses for letting another year slip by without passing them.”
Along with Thune, original cosponsors include Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Mark Warner (D-Va.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).
For more information, please see the Senate Finance Committee news release.
