In Review: Last Friday was the second funnel deadline, so the week was extremely busy with a large amount of activity. Last Tuesday, the omnibus PBM bill, HF 2401, which includes spread pricing, any willing pharmacy, and MAC language, passed the House as amended by a vote of 93 – 3. That very same day and with minutes notice, the bill was scheduled, heard, and passed in both the Commerce Subcommittee and full Committee. As was done in the previous committees, PCMA, member companies, Wellmark, the Association of Business and Industry (ABI), and the Insurance Federation all testified in opposition to the various issues of the bill. It was noted during the Committee meeting by an anti-PBM legislator that the fiscal note was incorrect and the bill did apply to ERISA plans. PCMA drafted a document outlining the issues with HF 2401 to be used with both legislators and clients/businesses. HF 2488 (Prior Authorization/Gold Carding), which we were told would be dead, ended up receiving an amendment adding the language from SF 2381, which is the cash pay bill that was previously defeated in the House. While HF 2488 does not include prescription drugs at the moment, we will need to watch the bill very closely to make sure that does not change.  Finally, HF 555, which is the pharmacy scope of practice bill that PCMA is monitoring, was amended in the Senate.

Up Next: PCMA, as well as ABI and the Insurance Federation, are working to get clients and businesses to voice their opposition to HF 2401 to selected Senate legislators.

If you have any questions, please contact Michelle Mack at mmack@pcmanet.org.