Proposed PBM Legislation Falls Short

The Pharmacy Benefit Manager Transparency Act (S. 127) introduced in the Senate on January 26, 2023 raises significant concerns. This legislation was drafted without the input of the plan sponsor community, the primary customers of PBMs. While the bill does include limited language requiring transparency from PBMs, from an employer perspective, this language is wholly inadequate. The transparency called for would give an employer virtually no insight into the “black box” in which a PBM is spending the employer’s (and patients’) money, instead solely focusing on information related to reimbursement and payments to pharmacies.