NJ.Com: FTC report grounds for Rx reform

By Jeanette Hoffman, Patients Come First New Jersey’s Executive Director

Do you ever go to pick up your medication at the pharmacy counter and have sticker shock at the cost, even when the drugs are covered by your insurance plan? Well, a new inquiry conducted by the Federal Trade Commission explains why.

The FTC recently released an interim report on the prescription drug middlemen industry that shows how pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) drive up the costs and impact the accessibility of prescription drugs. In fact, the report shows that the six largest PBMs manage nearly 95 percent of all prescriptions filled in the country!

With such tremendous power over the industry, the report concludes that drug middlemen are able to set higher prices for drugs, even overcharging patients for cancer medicines. As a result, nearly 30 percent of Americans surveyed reported they rationed their medicines or skipped doses due to high costs.

And because they control 95 of the prescription drug market, prescription drug middlemen also threaten access to medicines in rural areas by imposing harmful, unfair contract terms on small independent pharmacies. Due to these predatory practices, many of these independent pharmacies are struggling to stay in business and a large number have closed their doors, creating pharmacy deserts for patients in rural areas.

Read the full LTE in NJ.Com here.