Health care, business, political, and economic experts all agree pharmacy benefit companies deliver significant savings and play a critical role mitigating costs and supporting access to affordable, quality prescription drug coverage for employers and patients.
A number of economists, academics, and employers have voiced their opinion on the proven value of pharmacy benefit companies, please see several examples:
Ike Brannon, Senior Fellow, Jack Kemp Foundation
Forbes: Pharmacy Benefit Managers Are The Wrong Target In Biden’s Quest To Reduce Drug Prices
“Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) act as a necessary and effective intermediary between pharmaceutical manufacturers and health insurers. In essence, they counter the market power of a pharmaceutical company by creating a formulary—a list of drugs that the PBM will provide for the patients it covers—and negotiating steep volume discounts for these drugs by dint of their scale.”
“PBMs reduce Medicare Part D costs to beneficiaries and the government by obtaining rebates from the drug companies based on how much they purchase from them, rather than negotiating lower drug prices directly… The PBMs pass these savings on in the form of lower premiums and reduced government outlays for Part D.”
In another piece, Brannon argues that Congress’ focus on pharmacy benefit companies is misguided and pending legislation could raise costs for consumers:
Forbes: Regulatory Attacks On Pharmacy Benefit Managers Will Not Lower Drug Prices
“The reality is that PBMs provide essential services to their clients, most notably by negotiating on their behalf to obtain lower prices for prescription drugs, but they provide other valuable services as well. Consumers and the policymakers that represent them should know the price tag for these proposals currently being debated, especially as inflation continues to climb.”
“Restricting PBMs’ work for consumers inevitably results in higher drug spending…Attributing high drug prices to PBMs’ tools makes little sense, but the very notion that cutting out the “middleman” will somehow reduce costs still makes for an easy, if inaccurate, cudgel for politicians to wield.”
Hassan Tyler, Former Staffer with the U.S. Senate Democratic Policy Committee and Senator Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) RealClearPolicy: PBM Opponents Are Worried About Their Own Bottom Lines
“Those who oppose PBMs — most notably the pharmaceutical industry — claim that PBMs are unproductive middlemen and that they keep most of these rebates. Therefore, they conclude that eliminating them altogether would result in the PBM’s revenues going to healthcare plans in the form of lower drug costs.”
“But that assertion simply doesn’t hold water: A Pew Trust study found that PBMs returned 91% of pharmaceutical manufacturer rebates in 2016. A recent Bipartisan Policy Center study estimated that PBMs retained less than 5% of net revenues for 2018. The study also observed that the 5% retained by PBMs was lower than the percentage of retained revenues of other entities in the pharmaceutical drug supply chain such as pharmacists or wholesalers — two other opponents of PBMs.”
Marc Ang, Estate and Financial Planner, Mangus Finance, and President, Asian Industry B2B
RealClearHealth: Big Govt And Big Pharma Collusion Is A Loser For Small Business
“Many in my group of business owner peers have found that insurance plans featuring Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) are a big plus for our personnel, managing prescription-drug benefits and saving Americans $145 billion annually. We like to think of PBMs as Patient Benefit Maximizers because they’re able to negotiate lower drug costs for our employees, provide predictability on pricing, and offer high-quality pharmacy networks and clinical programs that help keep them safe and healthy.”
Jared Whitley, Former Staffer for U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch and President George W. Bush
Newsmax: ‘Solution’ To Pharmacy Benefit Managers Problem Is Costly
“The notion that medicine would be cheaper without PBMs is a textbook example of the fallacy of the false alternative. Those parties who want them out of the way — most notably independent pharmacists — are not interested in saving money for patients; they’re interested in saving money for themselves.”
“Without PBMs, prescription drugs would cost patients and the government even more.”
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Learn more about the critical role of pharmacy benefit companies and how Big Pharma’s egregious practices are the root cause of high drug prices HERE.
Learn what a world without pharmacy benefit companies would look like HERE.
See PCMA’s guide to understanding the role and value of pharmacy benefit companies HERE.
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PCMA is the national association representing America’s pharmacy benefit companies. Pharmacy benefit companies are working every day to secure savings, enable better health outcomes, and support access to quality prescription drug coverage for more than 275 million patients. Learn more at www.pcmanet.org
