Opinion Voices | Letters to the Editor: When a few buyers control most medications, all consumers suffer

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Estradiol patches, a widely used hormone therapy for menopause and certain cancer patients, have become scarce because four large buyers now control about 85 % of the medication market, allowing pharmacy benefit managers and narrow pharmacy networks to manipulate prices, limit generic competition, and prioritize corporate profit over patient access; critics argue that eliminating kickback schemes, banning narrow networks, and forcing price transparency would restore competition and lower costs, while others contend that the real issue lies in drug manufacturers reducing generic production and using tactics that block competition, making the current supply‑chain and reimbursement system unable to provide affordable, reliable access to the patches for women and men who depend on them.

Read more: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/story/2026-04-22/hormone-treatments-estradiol-patch

#PBMs #Consumeradvocates

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(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

#pharmaceuticalindustry #pbms #drugprices

"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.”

https://www.economicliberties.us/press-release/326-pharmacies-have-closed-since-elon-musk-tanked-pbm-reform/

#USA Musk #DOGE #PBMs #BigPharma #Healthcare #Oligopolies #Competition #Antitrust

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

#Warren, #Hawley join forces for #USSenate bill to force health #insurers to sell off #pharmacies, #PBMs

#healthcare #healthinsurance #insurancereform #PBM #affordablehealthcare #corporategreed

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/healthcare/3257135/elizabeth-warren-josh-hawley-bill-pharmacy-benefit-managers/

What are PBMs? Read this and see how else the medical "industry" is ripping you off. Resist the Shield of Boringness and My Eyes Glaze Over (MEGO)

#Capitalism #PBMs #Scamming

https://pluralistic.net/2024/09/23/shield-of-boringness/