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Alliance Submits Comments to the FTC on the Influence of Pharmacy Benefit Managers on the Healthcare System

Published May 24, 2022

On Friday, May 20, the Alliance for Aging Research submitted comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on the influence of pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) on the healthcare system. The comments focused primarily on the effect PBMs have on drug prices for older Americans and Medicare Part D beneficiaries. The Alliance noted the relationship between rebates and rising prices, drug tiering, spread pricing, and low reimbursement rates to independent pharmacies. Currently, three major PBMs serve approximately 80 percent of the pharmaceutical market. This control decreases competition, increases costs, and does not provide optimal value for taxpayers and beneficiaries.

To combat this, the Alliance recommended that the federal government examine potential policy solutions to better align incentives for patient-centered PBM practices:

  • Implementing pass-through pricing models, wherein PBMs pass 100 percent of rebates and discounts they receive from manufacturers on to pharmacies
  • Increasing competition in the PBM market by combatting any vertical integration
  • Instituting a shift from a pricing model focused on discounts and rebates to one that rewards outcomes important to the patients they serve.

About the Alliance for Aging Research

The Alliance for Aging Research is the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the pace of scientific discoveries and their application to vastly improve the universal human experience of aging and health. The Alliance believes advances in research help people live longer, happier, more productive lives and reduce healthcare costs over the long term. For more than 30 years, the Alliance has guided efforts to substantially increase funding and focus for aging at the National Institutes of Health and Food and Drug Administration; built influential coalitions to guide groundbreaking regulatory improvements for age-related diseases; and created award-winning, high-impact educational materials to improve the health and well-being of older adults and their family caregivers. For more information, visit www.agingresearch.org.

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