Washington, D.C. — In anticipation of the Senate Commerce Committee’s Feb. 16 hearing, “Building Transparency and Accountability to Pharmacy Benefit Managers,” the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“Anti-competitive tactics and profiteering by PBMs force Americans to pay more for medications than anywhere else in the world while making it harder to fill prescriptions with trusted, independent providers,” said Sara Sirota, Policy Analyst at the American Economic Liberties Project. “Chair Cantwell and Senator Grassley’s PBM Transparency Act brings needed clarity to how much PBM middlemen overcharge health plans, patients, and pharmacies with hidden fees. Unfortunately, the bill in its current form contains too many loopholes and should be updated to ban such PBM misconduct as manufacturer kickbacks, monopoly consolidation, and self-preferencing.”

Today, three PBMs – Caremark, Express Scripts, and Optum Rx – control 80% of the industry and are each part of larger corporations that own some of the biggest health insurers, pharmacy chains, and physician networks in the United States. Absent reforms to crack down on their entrenched market power, patients will continue to lose access to affordable medications.

Last June, the Federal Trade Commission unanimously voted to initiate a 6(b) study into PBM practices. The American Economic Liberties Project later held an event with Sen. Sherrod Brown, Rep. Buddy Carter, and FTC Chair Lina Khan to discuss the industry’s conduct. Learn more about PBMs from our quick take, “The Pharmacy Benefit Mafia,” here.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here. 

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.