Senators, Representatives Introduce Bill That Would Ban Joint Ownership of PBMs and Pharmacies

MedCity News December 13, 2024
Marissa Plescia

Senators Elizabeth Warren and Josh Hawley and Representatives Diana Harshbarger and Jake Auchincloss introduced the Patients Before Monopolies Act on Wednesday. It aims to prohibit the parent company of a PBM or insurer from owning a pharmacy business.

U.S. senators and representatives introduced a bill on Wednesday that aims to prohibit the combined ownership of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and pharmacies and require parent companies of PBMs to divest their pharmacy businesses.

The bill is called the Patients Before Monopolies Act (PBM Act) and was introduced by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) with Representatives Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.) and Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.).

It comes as PBMs — particularly CVS Caremark, Cigna’s Express Scripts and UnitedHealth Group’s Optum...

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