"That is because #PBMs are a cartel. Their clients are private insurers, drug manufacturers, and pharmacies, all of which sign secret contracts with terms the other clients do not get to see. The rest of us don’t get to see them, either. But we can understand how they work by decoding the euphemistic language typical of industries that want your eyes to glaze over."
"By 2018, the total cost of drug kickbacks was $153 billion. Now, it’s $356 billion."
"“Cole was forced to choose between his medication and his rent. He chose to pay his rent,” Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) told Congress almost a year later."
He died 11 days later.
"PBMs are a particularly rapacious type of middleman, just one of many responsible for turbocharging America’s #affordability crisis."
https://prospect.org/2025/12/05/meet-the-connectors-middlemen/
(16 Jun) Ohio pharmacies can’t keep filling prescriptions at a loss
A pharmacy manager retrieves a bottle of antibiotics. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)As a pharmac...
https://s.faithcollapsing.com/qduku
Archive: ais: https://archive.md/wip/JTQGb ia: https://s.faithcollapsing.com/0rxhw
#commentary #ohio-pharmacies #ohio-pharmacies-walgreens #pbms #walgreens
Big Pharma's Price Secret - All-In Pod
"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 as part of a stopgap spending bill. The new data comes ahead of a vote in Congress tomorrow on a continuing resolution to fund the government, where the policymakers could include much-needed structural PBM reform.
“Despite later admitting that he does not know what a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) is, Elon Musk successfully tanked PBM reforms with nearly unanimous House support late last year,” said Emma Freer, Senior Policy Analyst for Healthcare at the Economic Liberties Project. “As predicted, without Congressional intervention, the Big Three PBMs have continued to abuse their market power, squeezing at least 326 pharmacies – 237 of them independent – out of business in fewer than 10 weeks and stranding their most vulnerable patients in pharmacy deserts without access to lifesaving care. Given these high stakes, it is critical that Congress stand up to these healthcare monopolist middlemen and pass structural PBM reforms that will save their constituents’ time, money, and lives.”
#USA Musk #DOGE #PBMs #BigPharma #Healthcare #Oligopolies #Competition #Antitrust
March 10, 2025 – 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 as part of a stopgap spending bill.
Frustrated by spiraling drug costs, California lawmakers want to increase oversight of pharmaceutical industry intermediaries known as pharmacy benefit managers. It’s unclear whether they can persuade Gov. Gavin Newsom to get on board.
PBMs made billions marking up specialty drugs by more than 1,000 percent: FTC
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5085119-ftc-report-pharmacy-benefit-managers/
#pbm #pbms #PBMreform #cigna #unitedhealth #prescriptions #pharmacybenefitmanagers #cvs #caremark #ushealthcarecosts #ushealthcare #healthinsurance
PROFITS OVER HEALTH: For years, PBMs, took secret payments from opioid makers, like Purdue Pharma, in return for not restricting the flow of opioids.
"As tens of thousands of Americans overdosed and died from prescription painkillers, the middlemen collected billions of dollars in payments."👇
@nytimes Gift: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/17/business/pharmacy-benefit-managers-opioids.html?unlocked_article_code=1.iE4.rBHr.c_H2TpNJgQ6d&smid=url-share #addiction #PBMs #press
#Warren, #Hawley join forces for #USSenate bill to force health #insurers to sell off #pharmacies, #PBMs
#healthcare #healthinsurance #insurancereform #PBM #affordablehealthcare #corporategreed
The bipartisan bills would remove the middlemen who influence prices for prescriptions, making healthcare companies divest their pharmacies.
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