A bill designed to help local pharmacies compete against larger chain stores is headed to Governor Josh Shapiro’s desk for his approval.
The bill is aimed at regulating pharmacy benefit managers or PBMs that serve as a go-between for insurance companies and pharmacies and determines how much a pharmacy will get for the medicine it sells. PBM’s were initially created to negotiate prescription drug prices with drug companies through Medicaid to lower their costs. Smaller community pharmacies, however, claim that they often receive reimbursement payments that don’t cover the cost of the medications, and some say PBM’s are to blame for the rising costs of drugs, resulting in many independent pharmacies to close.
House Bill 1993 would limit or ban specific PBM practices, including spread pricing, patient steering, retroactive recoupment of money paid by the PBM to the pharmacy and forcing prescriptions be ordered by mail.
State Representatives Brian Smith and Jim Struzzi approved the bill, as did Senator Joe Pittman.
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