The Patients Before Monopolies (PBM) Act

The Patients Before Monopolies Act eliminates the vertical integration between Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) and pharmacy businesses. The legislation would prohibit PBMs from owning pharmacies, requiring large healthcare companies to divest their retail and mail-order pharmacy assets. The bill is necessary to eliminate conflicts of interest that allow PBMs to steer patients toward their own pharmacies, manipulate reimbursement rates, and disadvantage independent community pharmacies. The act also empowers federal agencies and state attorneys general to enforce the law, recover profits gained through violations, and provide restitution to consumers harmed by inflated drug costs. The increased growth of companies such as CVS Health, Cigna, and UnitedHealth Group, whose PBM subsidiaries control the vast majority of prescription drug claims in the United States, contributes to rising drug prices and thousands of independent pharmacy closures nationwide.