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Wednesday, December 18, 2024

Senator urges completion of FTC's pharmacy benefits managers probe

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Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, US Senator for Mississippi | Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith official website

Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, US Senator for Mississippi | Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith official website

U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) has urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to finalize its investigation into pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) following an interim report indicating that consumers are facing higher prices due to the monopoly held by these middlemen in the prescription benefit market.

For two years, Hyde-Smith has advocated for an FTC probe into PBM practices. PBMs manage various aspects of the prescription drug benefit process for health insurance companies, self-insured employers, unions, and government programs, often operating without significant regulatory oversight.

“We’ve all seen prescription drug prices continue to rise, which hurts the healthcare of Mississippians and the American people. Business relationships between insurers, PBMs, specialty pharmacies, and providers, coupled with a lack of transparency, have only increased concerns that savings aren’t being passed on to patients,” Hyde-Smith said. “I am heartened by the findings in this interim report and I will continue to push the FTC to complete its investigation, which should help us find better ways to improve a system that today unfairly penalizes consumers.”

The Mississippi Independent Pharmacies Association (MIPA), along with other national pharmacy associations, have backed the FTC investigation.

“The Federal Trade Commission has raised the veil of secrecy on the pharmacy benefit managers’ opaque and shadowy business practices. The outstanding work done by the FTC has proven that the PBMs are the real culprits behind the high cost of prescription drugs. These unregulated middlemen must be reined in to help curb the rising cost of prescription drugs for American and Mississippi citizens. The Mississippi Independent Pharmacies Association applauds the FTC and Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith for their work to expose the real motives behind the PBMs,” said Robert H. Dozier, MIPA executive director.

On Tuesday, the FTC released an interim staff report titled "Pharmacy Benefit Managers: The Powerful Middlemen Inflating Costs and Squeezing Main Street Pharmacies." The report found that major PBMs control 95 percent of prescriptions filled annually in the United States and highlighted how they drive up costs for lifesaving drugs while squeezing independent pharmacies out of business.

In January, Hyde-Smith signed a letter addressed to FTC Chair Lina Khan requesting an update on this investigation initiated in June 2022. She also advocated for a comprehensive review of firms dominating a large portion of the prescription benefit market shortly after this inquiry began.

Hyde-Smith is also an original cosponsor of bipartisan legislation known as the PBM Transparency Act (S.127). This bill would empower the FTC to hold PBMs accountable for any unfair or deceptive practices. The legislation is sponsored by U.S. Senators Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.).

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