Senate Hearing Continues Government Focus on PBM Industry

During a recent hearing held by a U.S. Senate committee, a variety of witnesses took the stand who nearly all had one message in common: criticizing the role PBMs play in increasing medication costs for consumers. The hearing — which is just the latest indication lawmakers are more closely monitoring PBMs — occurred less than three weeks after Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) introduced the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Transparency Act of 2023 to the Senate floor.  

Ryan Urgo, managing director of health policy at Avalere Health, tells AIS Health that the hearing and bill are part of “a broader effort by lawmakers right now to apply more scrutiny to the PBM business model and certain PBM business practices that lawmakers feel are either anticompetitive or contribute to the broader growth of drug prices.”