(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Today, the Education and Workforce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions will hold a hearing exploring the relationship between pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and health insurance brokers and benefit consultants. In advance of the hearing, David Marin, President and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, released the following statement:

“We want nothing more than members of Congress to better understand the important role PBMs play to lower drug prices and provide critical services for patients and employers. Unfortunately, the witnesses selected for this hearing will only further bias the conversation about our industry.”

“Here are the facts: PBM reform – enacted just this year – already requires full disclosure of any compensation paid to brokers and benefit consultants. That is law. In practice, employers often include language in contracts with health plans, PBMs, and others to cover the fees charged by the benefit consultants they hire. These are not kickbacks. If there are concerns about broker compensation and incentives, policymakers should demand more transparency from this opaque part of system. PBMs, by contrast, are the most transparent part of the drug supply chain. We welcome engagement from this committee or any member on this topic, but hearings like this do nothing to inform the debate or solve the real challenges families face from high health care costs.”