The House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Health this week held a legislative hearing entitled, “Lowering Unaffordable Costs: Legislative Solutions to Increase Transparency and Competition in Health Care.”
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure served as the sole witness on the first panel in her first appearance before Congress since confirmation. The second panel included representatives from the American Hospital Association, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Aledade, Inc., American Benefits Council and USC-Brookings Initiative for Health Policy, Economic Studies Program, Brookings Institution.
Witnesses and members discussed several legislative proposals to lower healthcare costs, including legislation to address the role PBMs play in our drug pricing system and the misaligned incentives that allow these major corporations to profit at the expense of patients.
PBM Accountability Project Managing Director Mark Blum issued a statement about the ongoing Congressional efforts to hold PBMs accountable:
“We are encouraged to see momentum continuing to build in Congress to hold PBMs accountable for lowering prescription drug costs to Americans, relieving the burden for employer health plan sponsors and lowering out-of-pocket costs for patients at the pharmacy counter. We know there are several meaningful policy solutions that will help patients access and afford their prescription medicines, and we know the vast majority of Americans are supportive of these PBM reforms.
“We commend the members of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health for their work today and look to all of Congress to advance these solutions to ensure Americans are paying no more than absolutely necessary for the medicines they rely on.”
To learn more about the PBM issue and legislative solutions, visit pbmaccountability.org.
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