The next time you walk into your pharmacy, you may not get the best deal on your prescription, but don’t blame the pharmacist.
Many allegedly have contracts with behind-the-scenes middlemen that contain “gag clauses” preventing them from telling you that paying cash for a prescription might cost less than your health insurance copayment. And pharmacists can face significant penalties if they disclose the difference.
So now, a trio of senators has introduced a pair of bills — the Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act and the Know the Lowest Price Act — that would prohibit pharmacy benefit managers from using these gag clauses in order to pocket the difference.
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Georgia enacted just such an “anti-gag” law last year. It not only prohibits PBMs from gagging pharmacists about lower prices, it also prohibits copays that are higher than what the pharmacy is paid for a drug. Georgia leading the nation — cool, huh?