The demise of American pharmacies: How middlemen put ‘kerosene on the fire’

The U.S. Congress left pharmacy benefit manager (PMB) reform out of its latest funding package. Despite that, states are taking on the intermediaries who decide how pharmacies are paid for the medications they dispense. 

This is part two of a three-part series on struggles within American pharmacies and the impact it has on access to health care. In part one, we covered how consolidation ‘bloated’ pharmacies.

In April, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, R, signed legislation banning PBMs from owning pharmacies in the state, claiming that the companies engage in anticompetitive practices. Meanwhile, a handful of other states have laws in the works to address the payment processors. On top of potential legislation, 39 state attorneys general called on Congress to pass legislation similar to Arkansas’ on the federal level.