An alarming number of local communities are losing their pharmacies because of greed by pharmacy benefit managers.
Johnstown is the latest when Westmont Rexall announced it was closing after seven decades.
Recently, Friendly Pharmacy, a fixture in the Kensington area of Philadelphia for 26 years, announced it will close May 31.
PBMs were created to negotiate good prices with drug companies for prescription drugs on behalf of health insurance providers such as Medicaid, but instead of passing the savings along to pharmacies and patients, they’re keeping the money.
As a result, more than 70 Pennsylvania chain and independent pharmacies have already closed this year.
Much of how PBMs operate is secret, but bipartisan legislation – Senate Bill 1000 and House Bill 1993 – would create transparency by granting the state Department of Insurance power to audit PBM contracts with pharmacies; develop a process of receiving, hearing and resolving complaints; and ensure pharmacies are reimbursed for the cost to buy and dispense drugs.
The bills also eliminate two predatory practices, “spread pricing” and “patient steering.”
Spread pricing occurs when PBMs charge a health plan a higher price for medications than what they pay to pharmacies, keeping the difference, or “spread,” as profit. Patient steering occurs when PBMs force patients to use a PBM-owned pharmacy or risk paying higher out-of-pocket costs.
It’s time to pass PBM reform and stop the closings of good pharmacies such as Westmont Rexall and Friendly Pharmacy.
They provide good jobs and Pennsylvanians count on them for critical health care needs.
Victoria E. Elliott
CEO, Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association
