(Washington, D.C.) — Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) President and CEO JC Scott released the following statement on the brief submitted by the State of Arkansas in the United States Supreme Court case Rutledge v. PCMA:

“As the process begins, we are confident in the merits of our arguments in this case and look forward to presenting them before the U.S. Supreme Court.

We believe everyone deserves access to quality, affordable health care services, no matter the state one lives in.  Unique state laws governing the administration of pharmacy benefits are proliferating across the country, establishing vastly different standards. These inconsistent and often conflicting state policies eliminate flexibility for plan sponsors and create significant and costly administrative inefficiencies. This will result in increased premiums and prescription drug costs for patients and payers.

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) has long enabled employers to provide consistent, nationwide health care benefits due to its preemption of state laws. Federal preemption is a vitally important issue to ensuring high quality health care for patients.”