Dems, GOP Must Unite In Cracking Down On Middlemen Who Cause Drug Costs To Skyrocket

This article originally appeared in Daily Caller on October 11, 2024

"Over the past several years, lawmakers, healthcare practitioners and patient advocates have claimed companies known as pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are inflating the cost of prescription drugs. Now, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is suing the largest PBMs for allegedly increasing the cost of insulin for patients with diabetes.

These middlemen manage the drug benefits for virtually all health insurance plans in the United States, negotiating prices with drug manufacturers and negotiating benefits with health plans. Since PBMs are service providers working on behalf of health plans and patients, they should be incentivized to design drug benefits so that patients can access the best drugs at the lowest possible cost. But, because of the perverse incentives in the market, PBMs often benefit when patients and their employers pay more for drugs..."

Read the full op-ed in Daily Caller