John Rice Carter: “I thank the gentleman for his comments, and I thank him for his work. He truly has been a champion for his constituents.…”

“I thank the gentleman for his comments, and I thank him for his work. He truly has been a champion for his constituents. His father is a doctor and, certainly, he understands healthcare. As he mentioned, he was an insurance broker, he understands insurance. And a lot of what we talk about here is insurance. Let me try to articulate, if you will, exactly what I am talking about here. Some of the folks back home who are watching may be thinking, well, I don't really understand why the pharmaceutical manufacturers have to go through the PBMs. What happens is that insurance companies work on formularies. In other words, they say, if you have got this disease, or if you have got this health problem, these are the drugs that we are going to cover. The pharmaceutical manufacturer, in order to get their drug on that formulary, has to go to the PBM, the middleman, and has to offer them discounts, rebates, if you will, in order to get their product on that formulary. That is what we are talking about. That is where they have the pharmaceutical manufacturers by the short hairs, if you will. That is where they really put the pressure on. So that is really what we are talking about. Look, again, as I have said before, I am not opposed to anybody making money, but show me the value. I mentioned a hearing that we had earlier today in the Health Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee. I mentioned that we had some PBMs there. We had two PBMs there.…”