- Le Ondra Clark Harvey, PhD, Executive Director, California Access Coalition
- Joylynn Fix, PIR, FHIAS, MCM, Director of Life & Health, West Virginia Offices of the Insurance Commissioner
- Angus Worthing, MD, President, ATAP Action Network
- Jenny Arnold, PharmD, BCPS, Chief Executive Officer, Washington State Pharmacy Association
- Michelle Rivas, Executive Vice President Government Relations & Corporate Affairs, California Pharmacists Association
We were thrilled to bring together such a strong mix of experts to discuss all things pharmacy middlemen, including California state efforts to hold them accountable through SB 873 (Bradford) and SB 966 (Wiener), Washington state efforts through E2SSB 5213, as well as updates from Maryland and New York. In addition, the panel covered the July 9 Federal Trade Commission report, the California Access Coalition’s statement in response to the FTC report, and the groundbreaking study from the Washington State Pharmacy Association, which was covered in the Wall Street Journal in June: “Mail-Order Drugs Were Supposed to Keep Costs Down. It’s Doing the Opposite.”
Anecdotes from providers like Dr. Angus Worthing highlighted the hoops his pregnant patients living with rheumatoid arthritis must navigate to receive their medications, like denials from PBMs even though the medications they deny are proven to be safer and more effective. These on-the-ground experiences are what drives all of us to work harder to hold middlemen accountable and reduce costs for patients.
It was gratifying to hear from Joylynn Fix that West Virginia has not seen their premiums rise as a result of passing through 100% of rebates to the patient. They successfully implemented this policy in 2021, and because of Joylynn’s efforts, Insurance Commissioner offices throughout the country are now committed to holding PBMs accountable.
It’s also important to highlight the comments made by Michelle Rivas, Dr. Clark Harvey, and Jenny Arnold about the PBMs doing it right. A small coalition of transparent PBMs came together to launch TransparencyRx in 2023 as a counterweight to the status-quo – they confront stale and dated ideas and take on corporate monopolies, including “big PBMs and the insurance lobby.”
