1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

On April 14, a bipartisan coalition of 39 state (and territory) attorney generals signed a letter urging Congress to pass an act to prohibit Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) from owning pharmacies. I ask that you immediately work with and vocally support the Patients Before Monopolies (PBM) act to prevent PBMs from pocketing the savings owed to consumers. Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), the drug middlemen designed to lower drug costs, have done nothing but profit off the backs of consumers. The top 3 PBMs now control about 80% of the drug market. By also owning pharmacies, including mail-order pharmacies, they are funneling even more dollars into their own networks with impunity, driving up drug costs to Americans. The Mississippi Board of Pharmacy recently discovered in an audit that OptumRx, the PBM division of United Healthcare, paid their own pharmacies up to 27 times MORE than non-affiliated pharmacies for the exact same drug, exact same dose, and exact same quantity. Multiple gross abuses were also found  after an audit of another PBM, ExpressScripts (ESI) by the state of Tennessee. ESI collected over $30 million from overcharging non-affiliate pharmacies while failing to pay mandated fees and reimburse successful appeals. And they did this all while operating illegally without a license in Tennessee.  PBMs are even forcing consumers to use mail-order pharmacies they own, further lining their own pockets. We should be able to choose which pharmacy we want to use. Why do companies like CVS get to be in charge of paying pharmacies while also BEING one of the largest pharmacy chains? These predatory, self-serving PBMs continue to jack up medication costs to taxpayers, and are shuttering independent pharmacies, often the only pharmacy in rural areas. Over 3000 pharmacies have closed nationwide in the last year, further decreasing medication access. Hundreds of thousands of Americans now must drive over 30 miles away to reach a single pharmacy, or hope their mail order medicines arrive on time and unspoiled by extreme temperatures. Pharmacies are harbingers of healthcare access and self-sustaining communities. I urge you to vote YES on the Patients Before Monopolies act to prohibit PBMs from having pharmacy affiliates, immediately. A recent bipartisan senate bill on PBM reform passed unanimously, but has since stalled. Public health is at stake and it cannot wait; stop this gross conflict of interest and pass this legislation immediately to help families access and afford their medications and start saving lives TODAY.