John Rice Carter: “If I might just give two examples. First of all, there is an example of Caterpillar. Caterpillar has done away with…”

“If I might just give two examples. First of all, there is an example of Caterpillar. Caterpillar has done away with PBMs. They have done away with the third parties. They are doing it themselves. And you know what it has resulted in? Stable drug prices for the past few years. As opposed to the increases that most companies have seen, Caterpillar, when they cut out the middleman, they have had stable drug prices. They said: We can do this better. And they have done it better. Keep in mind--the second thing that I want to point out is, keep in mind, why were PBMs created? First of all, they were created to process claims, insurance claims. But what is their purpose? They will tell you our purpose is to keep drug prices down. Our purpose is to keep drug prices down. Mr. Speaker, how is that working out for you? They are not keeping drug prices down. They are keeping drug prices up. They are one of the reasons why drug prices are going up, one of the primary reasons. I can remember when I started practicing pharmacy in 1980. And I am proud to say that I am that old. I started practicing pharmacy in 1980. We used to buy directly from the drug companies. I would buy directly from Upjohn, from Merck Sharp & Dohme, from Squibb, from whoever. There was no middleman there. Now I can't even do that. I have to go through the PBM. I have to go through all these different layers and layers in order to get the medication.…”