TAPP Signs Coalition Letter Urging Congress to Pass PBM Reforms

The Trade Alliance to Promote Prosperity recently signed onto a coalition letter urging Congress to pass common sense Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) reforms.

In part, the coalition or more than 20 organizations wrote, “[We] strongly support the bipartisan PBM transparency and accountability reforms that passed through the Senate Finance Committee in 2024—the Modernizing and Ensuring PBM Accountability (MEPA) Act (S. 2973) and the Mental Health, Lower-Cost Drug and Extenders Package (S. 3430). The policy behind these bills will help ensure that patients realize cost savings on their prescription drugs.”

The letter explained, “PBMs are inflating their profits by preferencing more expensive medicines when designing formularies. By setting favorable prices and cost-sharing amounts, PBMs influence the amount that patients pay out of pocket and which medicines they can access through their insurance. If a drug isn’t on the formulary, insurers won’t cover it and often doctors won’t prescribe it… Today, the three largest PBMs, CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and OptumRx, now comprise about 80 percent of the entire PBM market and administer drug benefits for over 270 million Americans. The trend of vertical integration and consolidation in the PBM industry is warping the drug market in drastic ways…”

This is why TAPP signed onto the letter and supports efforts to pass the reforms that were contained in last year’s S. 2973 and S. 3430 this year.

Read the full letter here.