{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://millermeeks.house.gov/media/press-releases/miller-meeks-barragan-chavez-deremer-manning-malliotakis-schneider-kean-and", "Miller-Meeks, Barrag\u00e1n, Chavez-DeRemer, Manning, Malliotakis, Schneider, Kean, and Spanberger Introduce the DRUG Act", "2023-11-08", "2023", "2023-11", "Republican", "House", "IA", "Mariannette Miller-Meeks", "M001215", "millermeeks.house.gov", "millermeeks", "https://millermeeks.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 U.S. Representatives Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-01), Nanette Diaz Barrag\u00e1n (CA-44), Lori Chavez-DeRemer (OR-05), Kathy Manning (NC-06), Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11), Brad Schneider (IL-10), Tom Kean, Jr. (NJ-07), and Abigail Spanberger (VA-07) introduced the \u201cDelinking Revenue from Unfair Gouging Act\u201d or the \u201cDRUG Act,\u201d legislation that bans spread pricing, patient steering, and implements de-linking policies in the commercial insurance market.\n\n\u201cPharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) have excessive influence over the prices patients pay at the pharmacy counter,\u201d said Miller-Meeks. \u201cThe DRUG Act puts downward pressure on prescription drug prices and insurance premiums by removing the incentive for PBMs to drive up the list price of a medication. Additionally, this legislation protects independent pharmacies and a patient\u2019s right to choose the pharmacy of his or her choice without pressure from the PBM.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe rapidly rising cost of prescription drugs has forced patients to choose between lifesaving medication and other basic needs,\u201d said Barrag\u00e1n. \u201cLow-income communities and those with multiple, chronic health conditions suffer most from unmet prescription drug needs. Pharmacy Benefit Managers are incentivized to engage in anticompetitive behavior that results in higher costs for consumers. The DRUG Act would reign in these PBM practices that spike prices, and lead to increased access to affordable medication.\u201d\n\n\u201cPharmacy benefit managers manipulate the current payment model by creating an environment that favors more expensive prescription medications, which ultimately drives up health care costs for patients,\u201d said Chavez-DeRemer. \u201cBy implementing a flat-fee compensation system, the DRUG Act would streamline drug price negotiations \u2013 lowering costs by improving transparency and reducing administrative burdens. I\u2019ll continue working in a bipartisan manner to bolster transparency and accountability in the health insurance industry to make health care more affordable for Oregon seniors and families.\u201d\n\n\u201cNorth Carolina families shouldn\u2019t have to struggle to afford the medications they need to stay healthy. But Pharmacy Benefit Managers are incentivized to give preference to high-cost drugs, so they can earn more on service fees, and then those costs are passed down to families. This dishonest practice must be put to rest,\u201d said Manning. \u201cI\u2019m co-leading this bipartisan bill to put a stop to pharmaceutical price gouging and bring down the cost of prescription medications for all.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen it comes to PBMs, there\u2019s little to no transparency on their practices, and they\u2019re making a lot of money by dictating what their competitors are able to make,\u201d said Malliotakis. \u201cBecause of this, \u2018Mom & Pop\u2019 pharmacies in my district are being crushed, and the costs are being passed down to consumers. I\u2019m proud to join my colleagues in introducing this critical piece of legislation which cracks down on the exploitative pricing techniques of PBMs and works to make pharmaceuticals more affordable.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen one in four Americans say they have difficulty affording their medicine, we have a problem. Too often I hear constituents telling me they are rationing the medicines, or cutting their pills in half, or foregoing their medication all together, due to skyrocketing costs. Part of the solution to the drug affordability crisis in America must be addressing the role of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). These middlemen build their drug formularies and negotiate inflated list prices from manufacturers all at the great expense of patients. We need to fix the broken incentive structures that unfairly reward PBMs for choosing costly drugs and limiting access to critical medications,\u201d said Schneider. \u201cI am proud to support the DRUG Act, which will remove the incentives which drive PBMs to favor expensive drugs for patient plans, increase costs for payers, and steer patients to their affiliated pharmacies. This legislation will instead build incentives to lower drug costs and deliver better access to medication for patients across the country. I thank my colleagues for their work on this important legislation.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhile Virginians and Americans across the country are spending more and more of their money on lifesaving medication, PBMs are playing a behind-the-scenes role in driving up prescription drug costs,\u201d said Spanberger. \u201cThese third-party middlemen should not receive a cash reward for steering patients toward overpriced medications. This bipartisan bill would help lower drug costs by reforming the pharmaceutical industry\u2019s murky rebate system and removing the incentive for PBMs to favor expensive drugs over drugs Americans can actually afford.\u201d\n\nFor the full bill text, please click here.\n\nFor the one-pager about the bill, please click here.\n\nBackground:\n\nPBMs are a growing faction in the distribution and payment ecosystem for prescription medicines. As the entity between pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies, PBMs initially played a key role in reducing prescription medicine costs and increasing access and affordability for Americans. Unfortunately, PBMs have grown and vertically integrated to the point where the three largest PBMs control over 80% of prescriptions, up from 30% in 2010. Their modern-day practices of driving up list prices in order to extract higher rebates for formulary placement are occurring at the expense of patients in the form of higher insurance premiums and higher prescription drug costs.\n\nPBMs often bill patients more than what they pay to the pharmacy for medicines and keep the difference, enriching themselves instead of the patients they are supposed to benefit. This business practice, known as spread pricing, adds opacity to a supply chain that needs transparency. PBMs have attempted to rebrand spread pricing, calling it \u201crisk mitigation pricing,\u201d and contending that it provides predictability for plan sponsors and lowers drug cost. However, a 2020 analysis by the Congressional Budget Office found that prohibiting the use of spread pricing contracts just in Medicaid alone would save approximately $929 million over 10 years.\n\nAdditionally, the DRUG Act includes several other reforms to address PBM abuses:\n\nImplements de-linking policies, which allows PBMs to only charge a flat fee for drug placement versus letting them continue to charge a percentage of the drug.\n\nBans \u2018spread pricing,\u2019 which is when a PBM pays a pharmacy less for a drug than what they receive from the insurer.\n\nProhibits PBMs from paying affiliated pharmacies more than independent community pharmacies for the same services; and\n\nBans \u2018patient steering,\u2019 when a PBM encourages or requires patients to use its affiliated pharmacies instead of a pharmacy that is most convenient for the patient.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T01:01:09Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://millermeeks.house.gov/media/press-releases/miller-meeks-barragan-chavez-deremer-manning-malliotakis-schneider-kean-and"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7451331950724125, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}