Threat to DC pharmacy renews debate over benefit managers

{mosads}”It is because of this incident and other concerns with CVS Caremark and other PBMs that we are supporting current federal legislation to create greater transparency and level the playing field,” John Norton, public relations manager for the National Community Pharmacists Association, said in an e-mail.

Pharmacy benefit managers say they keep costs low by negotiating low drug prices and getting people on generics.

The antitrust bill, introduced by Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.), has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee. And Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers’s (R-Wash.) “Pharmacy Competition and Consumer Choice Act” has bipartisan support in the Senate, with Sens. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) signing on.