Lawmakers Want To Break Up Healthcare Conglomerates, Forcing Them To Shed Pharmacies
Forbes December 16, 2024
Bipartisan legislation introduced last week would bar companies that own pharmacy benefit managers and health insurers from also owning pharmacy businesses.
The two sponsors are Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). They seek to force vertically integrated conglomerates to divest their businesses operating specialty pharmacies within three years. But based on past experiences, it won’t be an easy task.
Since the Sherman Anti-Trust Act was enacted more than 130 years ago, the federal government has only sporadically resorted to breaking up firms that it perceived to be monopolies. And when it did so in recent times, the process moving through the courts was very time-consuming. Moreover, even in the event that the government succeeds in its antitrust actions,...