ATLANTA — After sailing through the Georgia House of Representatives, a close vote in a Senate committee blocked the progress of a bill aimed at reducing some prescription drug costs for consumers.
The “Lowering Prescription Drug Costs for Patients Act” would have passed on prescription drug rebates to some Georgia patients at the cash register. It was one of several health-related measures to mire in the 2023 Georgia General Assembly session.
The bill took aim at pharmacy benefit managers, often called PBMs. These companies are designed to help manage prescription drugs for health insurers and they often require payments — known as rebates — from drug manufacturers for featuring certain medications in approved drug lists for patients.
The Georgia bill would have required half of the value of those rebates to be passed along to Georgia patients on many commercial insurance plans.
“We don’t have any problem with … with the company making a reasonable profit,” said Rep. Mark Newton, R-Augusta, the bill’s sponsor. “When a corporate desire for excess profits starts to harm patients, I think that’s when we as legislators ought to step in and protect patients.”
“The top three PBMs control 80% of the drug choices that all Americans have,” Newton added. “One example is Caremark, CVS and Aetna — that’s a combination that has a common ownership.”
Other large PBMs Georgians may be familiar with are OptumRx, owned by UnitedHealth Group, and Express Scripts, owned by Cigna Healthcare.
Opponents argued the bill would have reduced the flexibility of small businesses to decide how to spend pharmacy rebates.
“If it passes, then that limits and restricts the flexibility of designing plans that will fit the overall group [of employees],” said Mychal Walker, chairman of the National Federation of Independent…
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