The Attorneys General from Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri join a coalition of AGs from 45 states urging the U.S. Department of Labor to adopt a new rule requiring pharmacy benefit managers or PBMs to be more transparent about how they set prescription drug prices.

 

About 136 million Americans receive health care coverage through their employer. Many of those plans include prescription drug coverage that is managed by pharmacy benefit managers or PBMs. They negotiate rebates with drug manufacturers, decide which drugs are covered and determine what patients pay. However,  the employers who hire them to manage their health plans have little visibility into how PBMs make money or why drug costs change. A proposed rule would require PBMs to disclose twice a year how they generate revenue and give employers the right to audit them.

 

In a letter to the Department of Labor, the coalition urges the adoption of two additional protections. First, they ask the Department to clarify that the rule does not override existing state PBM transparency laws. Second, they ask the Department to commit to coordinating enforcement with state attorneys general, including by referring potential violations of state law to their offices. Oklahoma's Attorney General Gentner Drummond along with Kris Kobach of Kansas and Catherine Hanaway of Missouri have signed onto the letter.

 

Currently, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have enacted provisions to regulate PBMs.

 

To read the letter. follow this link.