Released today by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC):
"Staff’s latest report found that the ‘Big 3 PBMs’—Caremark Rx, LLC (CVS), Express Scripts, Inc. (ESI), and OptumRx, Inc. (OptumRx)—marked up numerous specialty generic drugs dispensed at their affiliated pharmacies by thousands of percent, and many others by hundreds of percent. Such significant markups allowed the Big 3 PBMs and their affiliated specialty pharmacies to generate more than $7.3 billion in revenue from dispensing drugs in excess of the drugs’ estimated acquisition costs from 2017-2022. The Big 3 PBMs netted such significant revenues all while patient, employer, and other health care plan sponsor payments for drugs steadily increased annually, according to the staff report.
No further evidence needed for legislators take action. If your legislator is not on the side of taking immediate action, something is very wrong.
Forced mail order pharmacy was never about safety and affordability. It has always been about getting away with using the patients with the most chronic conditions for massive billion dollar profits.
The pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) that force to their own mail order pharmacy are distorting drug prices to their favor. As they merged with insurance companies, they were able to hide the transparency of that price gouging, sometimes under the disguise of a low copay.
It's time for legislators to take action and for regulators to BREAK THEM UP! The insurance companies, the PBMs, and their mail order pharmacies must be broken up and should never be trusted again. America deserves justice and protection.
As always, thank you for your support! You are making a difference.
Loretta Boesing, Patient Advocate
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