WASHINGTON — Like drug industry CEOs before them, drug middlemen are headed for the congressional hot seat.
Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who lead the Senate Finance Committee, have invited five major pharmacy benefit managers, Cigna, CVS, Humana, OptumRx and Prime Therapeutics, to testify before Congress on April 3, the pair announced Tuesday afternoon.
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Well it’s about time !!! I just hope they know the right questions to ask the PBM’s. Like about Drug rebates really being a payoff to be on formulary. How about the PBM’s stealing the Price spread between AWP and what they pay the pharmacy. Why is there no transparency in their payment system? How is it that audits of 10 states medicaid systems uncovered billions of dollars stolen by the PBM’s. Why would the PBM’s bill medicare part D patients at AWP ? This puts them in the donut hole so much faster ! Why do PBM’s have a take it or leave it contract with Independent pharmacies but no one has any idea if there is any contract with their own pharmacies.
Is it not a conflict of interest that the PBM’s decide how much they pay independent pharmacies and how much they pay themselves . Gee this sounds so much like Anti-trust to me !!!!!