PA House passes Benham’s Pharmacy Benefit Manager bill
Benham urges state Senate vote on legislation to reform PBM practices
Rep. Jessica Benham June 28, 2024 | 4:08 PM
HARRISBURG, June 28 – State Rep. Jessica Benham joined colleagues for a Capitol news conference today urging the state Senate to pass her legislation to reform pharmacy benefit manager practices (H.B. 1993) after the PA House passed the bill by an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 198-4.
Benham said her bill would address complaints voiced by Pennsylvania pharmacists and consumers by limiting or banning specific practices by Pharmacy Benefit Managers, including patient steering, spread pricing and retroactive recoupment of money paid by PBMs to pharmacies.
“We need to create a level playing field for our community pharmacies so that they can compete fairly with the big guys. We’re taking on corporate greed, and I believe we will win,” Benham said. “Over 140 pharmacies in Pennsylvania have closed since the start of the year, and pharmacy benefits manager greed is one of the biggest reasons why.
“I’m standing here to say, ‘no more.’ In this House, we stick up for the little guy. We fight for our small business and that absolutely includes our Main Street pharmacies.”
PBMs negotiate with drug companies, pay pharmacies and help decide which drugs will be available for what price. Pharmacies have increasingly reported that PBMs are using those roles against the interests of consumers.
“PBMs are tasked with reducing drug prices, and they are too frequently doing the opposite and pocketing the proceeds while Pennsylvanians are out there rationing life-sustaining meds so they can afford food,” said state Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Allegheny, following House passage of the bill.
“PBM ‘middlemen’ are far from the only driver of unreasonable drug costs, but it’s a great place to start. We cannot allow finger pointing within the health care industry to stop us from getting drug prices under control.”
Frankel serves as majority chair of the PA House Health Committee, which unanimously approved the bill on June 12.
In calling on the state Senate to schedule a vote on H.B. 1993, Benham emphasized the legislation’s near-unanimous support in the full House.
“Step up, state Senate. The ball is in your court,” she said. “Let’s send a bill to Governor Shapiro’s desk so he can sign it. Because we know that PA is a place that values, celebrates and trusts community pharmacies. They had our backs during the pandemic, and it’s far past time that we had theirs.”
Benham has discussed the bill and issues surrounding PBMs with pharmacists in Allegheny, Armstrong, Lackawanna, and Westmoreland counties this year and plans to continue visiting community pharmacies across the state in the coming months.