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House Oversight Committee Criticizes PBMs; FTC Poised to Sue, Bipartisan Bill Introduced

Jul 23, 2024, 02:20 PM

The U.S. House Oversight Committee has released a report criticizing pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) for steering patients towards higher-priced medicines, even when lower-cost alternatives are available. The report indicates that PBMs often favor brand-name drugs, which come with higher prices and potentially larger rebates that benefit the PBMs, over more affordable options. This practice has been found to cost patients, PBM clients, and taxpayers significant amounts of money. In response, lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan bill aimed at regulating these drug middlemen. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is also reportedly poised to sue PBMs. During a House hearing, PBM executives faced tough questions from committee members, including Chairman Rep. James Comer, who stated that PBMs are not fulfilling their intended role of lowering drug costs and suggested that these entities need to be dismantled. Dr. Patrick Conway from OptumRx and Dr. Adam Kautzner from Express Scripts were among those questioned. Rep. Raskin emphasized that profits should not come at the expense of patient care.