Conclusions across various reports have found that rebates secured by PBMs are NOT correlated to high and increasing list prices set solely by drug companies.

Instead of interfering in the private market with misguided government mandates that benefit Big Pharma, Congress should reject those policies and focus on holding drug companies accountable for their egregious pricing practices. 

Despite rebates being uncorrelated with high list prices, Big Pharma is still aggressively lobbying Congress to weaken PBMs’ ability to negotiate savings in the private market by targeting rebates—all to boost their own profits. These policies would raise health care costs for employers and families, undermine flexibility for businesses to design pharmacy benefits, and fail to lower patient premiums or out-of-pocket costs.

Key findings from a report from health policy researcher Alex Brill, founder and CEO of Matrix Global Advisors and former policy director and chief economist for the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means, “Rebates and Drug Price Increases: An Analysis,” include:

Analysis using Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) data of the top 250 brand-name drugs in Medicare Part D by total spending in 2022 confirmed that price increases from big drug companies are unrelated to rebates.

Key findings in the analysis include:

• Increasing list prices are not correlated with changes in prescription drug rebates.
• There is no consistent pattern to the changes in rebates on brand prescription drugs; some increased while others decreased.

See the infographic: