Lawmakers seek to rein in PBMs as part of spending bill’s sweeping health deal
Hill December 17, 2024
Lawmakers have agreed to attach a sweeping health care package to a year-end stopgap government funding legislation, according to text obtained by The Hill ahead of the release of the full bill.
The health portion contains pharmaceutical benefit manager (PBM) industry reforms, extensions of Medicare telehealth flexibilities, reauthorizations of legislation to prevent pandemics and address the opioid crisis, payments to community health centers, a rollback of physician payment cuts and other policies.
The inclusion of more than 500 pages of health provisions in a spending bill will likely infuriate some conservatives, who generally oppose omnibus legislation. But the health provisions show bipartisan agreement after significant back-and-forth between Republicans and Democrats.
The PBM changes represent significant guardrails on...