Political Quotes

“One of the top concerns for Americans is the high cost of prescription drugs. Congress must do something to lower these prescription drug prices. We know the American people want lower prices, but they don't want to sacrifice access to lifesaving treatments. Prior to representing the great people of east Tennessee in Congress, I served for 35 years as a community pharmacist, so I know a thing or two about safeguarding patient access to affordable medicines and solving patient problems. We absolutely need to reform the ways pharmaceutical manufacturers price their products and sometimes manipulate the system. But there is another part of the drug pricing equation that doesn't get nearly as much attention, and that is the role of the pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, their lack of transparency, their market dominance, and the effects of their business practices on drug prices and patient choices. PBMs were created as middlemen to reduce administrative costs for insurers, validate patients' eligibility, administer plan benefits, and negotiate costs between pharmacies and health plans. But they have morphed into one of the most highly concentrated and least accountable profit centers in the healthcare industry. Over time, these PBMs have been allowed to operate and consolidate their market powers virtually unchecked. Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial health plans all use PBMs to manage drug benefits. That is more than 260 million American lives.…”