Health Insurance

Bipartisan Bills Reintroduced to Senate to Control PBMs

UPDATED ON
February 1, 2023
Abbey Dean
Abbey Dean
— Written By
Print Friendly and PDF

On January 25, Senators Maria Cantwell, D-Washington and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, reintroduced the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Transparency Act and the Prescription Pricing for the People Act.  

The proposed legislation would prohibit clawbacks of pharmacy payments, as well as other pharmacy benefit management (PBM) changes like mandating that PBMs file an annual report detailing pricing practices with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).  

According to the National Community Pharmacists Association, describes the practice of copay clawback in the following way:

Under almost all health care plans, patients are responsible for a certain level of cost sharing. With this model, the patient assumes they are paying a portion of the cost and their insurance company is paying the remainder. The practice known as "copay clawback" turns this premise upside down. In this case, the cost of the medication is lower than the patient's copay, but the patient's PBM instructs the pharmacy to charge the patient an inflated copay. Later the PBM "claws back" the excess from the pharmacy and keeps it for themselves.

This latest move could signal that lawmakers are unwilling to back down from PBM reform in the latest Congress.

To read the complete article, click here.  

Looking for more exclusive content? See what’s trending on the Mployer Advisor blog.

Want more insights on how your employee benefits compare to companies in your region, industry, and similar employer size?
Download Your Custom Benefits Report Now
See How Your Employee Benefits Compare

Next Up

The Market Employment Summary for December 2024
Each month, Mployer Advisor breaks down the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most recent State Employment and Unemployment Summary to highlight some employment trends across various markets. This is an overview of December’s report.
The Employment Situation for December 2024
The latest economic release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the U.S. job market rebounded after a sluggish month in October to add 227 thousand new jobs last month as the unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 4.2%.
Introducing Insights+ The Next Evolution In Employee Benefits Evaluation & Value-Capture Tools
‍We are excited to announce the launch of Insights+, a service that enables employers to see exactly how their benefits measure up against the competition.