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BOOM: Congress (almost) Imposes Public Utility Rules on UnitedHealth, CVS, and Cigna
https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/boom-the-break-up-of-big-medicineMatt Stoller thinks that inclusion in the in-process funding bill makes passage of this a lock.
Pharmacy benefit managers owned by UnitedHealth, CVS, and Cigna drive up costs and harm patients. Finally, the House and Senate agreed on rules to cut into their power.
That’s why it matters so much that the House and Senate Appropriations Committees announced they negotiated legislative text in this space. The legislative text is based on the work of Senators Ron Wyden and Mike Crapo, and has been added to “must-pass” bills to keep the government open, so barring something extremely unusual, it’ll be signed into law.
Walgreens, like most pharmacies, was on the wrong side of a set of monopolists known as pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs.
PBMs are a bogeyman in modern American medicine, blamed for everything from driving up drug prices to denying people vital medicine to destroying access to pharmacies. They are a bad joke among doctors, running a process called ‘prior authorization’ to prevent physicians from giving people the care they need.
That’s why it matters so much that the House and Senate Appropriations Committees announced they negotiated legislative text in this space. The legislative text is based on the work of Senators Ron Wyden and Mike Crapo, and has been added to “must-pass” bills to keep the government open, so barring something extremely unusual, it’ll be signed into law.
Walgreens, like most pharmacies, was on the wrong side of a set of monopolists known as pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs.
PBMs are a bogeyman in modern American medicine, blamed for everything from driving up drug prices to denying people vital medicine to destroying access to pharmacies. They are a bad joke among doctors, running a process called ‘prior authorization’ to prevent physicians from giving people the care they need.
LOTS more at the link.
Can this be?