News
from the fight to #SaveIndiePharmacy
New York Times’ The Middlemen series
Pharma middlemen propose regulatory changes to avoid Trump administration rules, Bloomberg News reports
The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA), a key lobbying group for pharmacy middlemen, is drafting recommendations to present to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Bloomberg News reported, citing a reviewed document.
Letters: PBMs are no friend to veterans or rural residents
The idea that only PBM chains can serve patients is false and insulting to the small-business pharmacists working daily to keep Louisianans healthy.
What are pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and why we need reform?
As PBMs increasingly act in their own self-interest without transparency or accountability, drug prices rise and patients face health risks from cost-prohibitive drug treatments.
Health Insurers Are Denying More Drug Claims, Data Shows
Offering a rare glimpse inside the hidden world of rejected insurance claims, new data shows a steady uptick among major private insurers.
Can One Angry Dad Fix The Drug Industry?
Bil stares into the camera intently, as always, with his furrowed brow. “Always on my mind is my son, Cole,” he said. However, Bil says with a slight smile, “Health care reform is coming.”
Let's Fix Our Own Prescription Drug Policies
President Trump's push to import drug pricing models from European health systems -- particularly his Most Favored Nation (MFN) approach -- is like trying to fix a Harley-Davidson at a Vespa dealership.
Federal judge blocks Iowa's pharmacy benefit manager law for 2 weeks after businesses sue
A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order blocking the enforcement of Iowa's new law intended to regulate pharmacy benefit managers and help struggling pharmacies.
As pharmacies close, Ohio Chamber blasted for siding with middlemen
Owners of small pharmacies — many themselves members of local chambers of commerce — are accusing the Ohio Chamber of Commerce of siding with huge corporate middlemen who are driving them out of business.
Minnesota Independent Pharmacists’ (MNIndys’ legislative wins during the 2025 session gets a small shout out at the end!
Parents sue over son's asthma death days after inhaler price soared without warning
Cole Schmidtknecht, 22, had insurance but couldn’t afford to refill his asthma inhaler after the cost jumped from $70 to more than $500.
Arkansas Breaks Up Pharmacy Middlemen
Last week, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (the former White House press secretary) signed HB 1150, a bipartisan, groundbreaking law that makes Arkansas home to the most ambitious effort yet to rein in the harms of pharmacy benefit managers, more popularly known as PBMs.
Trump Issues Executive Order About PBM Compensation
In an effort to lower prescription drug prices, President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday, which includes measures to improve transparency into pharmacy benefit manager fee disclosures.
Arkansas PBM law could spur lookalike restrictions
At least half a dozen states are weighing new restrictions aimed at limiting pharmacy benefit managers' ability to influence drug prices, including prohibitions on steering business to affiliated pharmacies.
State and Territory Attorneys General Call on Congress to Prohibit Pharmacy Benefit Managers from Owning or Operating Pharmacies
Today the National Association of Attorneys General, on behalf of a bipartisan coalition of 39 state and territory attorneys general, sent a letter to congressional leaders urging them to pass an act prohibiting pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) from owning or operating pharmacies.
Texas AG investigating insurance company accused of spying on lawmakers, journalists, other Texans
Superior HealthPlan’s CEO, whom lawmakers grilled about the company’s alleged hiring of private investigators, was reportedly fired after the inquiry was announced.
UnitedHealth’s Optum to address pricing, access challenges for prescription drugs
The changes come as pharmacy benefit managers face scrutiny for how they require doctors and patients to seek its approval for certain treatments and drugs.
Pharmacy Benefit Manager Reform Keeps Getting Scuttled, Despite Bipartisan Support
Despite bipartisan support, a last-ditch effort to pass a healthcare package that included pharmacy benefit manager reforms was scuttled last week. This marks the umpteenth time that lawmakers couldn’t cross the threshold to pass and enact changes to how PBMs do business.
326 Pharmacies Have Closed Since Elon Musk Tanked PBM Reform
The American Economic Liberties Project today released new research showing that at least 326 U.S. pharmacies have closed since Dec. 19, 2024, when Congress abandoned bipartisan, bicameral PBM reforms after Musk claimed there was “too much pork.” Later tweeting, “What is a ‘pharmacy benefit manager.’
Senate Democrats to introduce PBM changes, health provisions dropped from December spending bill
Senate Democrats on Thursday are introducing as standalone legislation a package of health policies, including changes to the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) industry that was left out of December’s government spending bill.
Congress targets PBMs to curb drug prices, end spread pricing practices
The House is renewing a push to take on pharmacy benefit managers that play an important role in the cost of prescription drugs that has been heavily scrutinized by lawmakers amid industry consolidation and rising prices.
Drugmakers including Purdue Pharma paid pharmacy benefit managers not to restrict painkiller prescriptions, a New York Times investigation found.