S. 127 Does Nothing to Address Root Cause of High Drug Prices and Would Increase Costs for
Patients and Employers

(Washington, D.C.) — Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) President and CEO JC Scott released the following statement on today’s hearing in the Senate Commerce Committee on S. 127 – legislation the industry deems anti-competitive and harmful to patients.

“To be clear, the legislation being discussed today by members of the Commerce Committee does absolutely nothing to lower prescription drug costs. In fact, it risks raising drug costs for patients and employers providing health care coverage. S. 127 fundamentally misconstrues the role of pharmacy benefit companies and unfairly proposes to take away employers’ choice and flexibility in how they construct their pharmacy benefits to best fit the needs of their patient populations. PCMA would welcome the opportunity to work with the committee to advance policies that will address prescription drug affordability without undermining the parts of the system that have been proven to drive value for patients and employers.

Pharmacy benefit companies work every day to secure savings for patients, resulting in payers and patients saving an average of $1,040 per person per year – savings that this bill could put at risk. In addition, the bill provides for an egregious expansion of the power, authority, and jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), allowing the agency to pick winners and losers and setting a precarious precedent that suggests the FTC should regulate prices and business practices, which Congress could apply to any industry.”

Kristin Bass, PCMA’s chief policy and external affairs officer, added:

“Instead of promoting legislation that doesn’t achieve our shared goal of reducing patients’ costs, Congress should focus on solutions to increase, rather than constrain, competition in the prescription drug market as the most effective, time-tested way to drive down prescription drug costs. PCMA is calling on Congress to end big drug companies’ abuse of the patent system and of their pricing power, which is the fundamental cause of high prices.”

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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.