House Sends PBM Reform Bill to Governor

The Iowa House has sent the governor a bill that supporters say offers rural pharmacies financial relief by reigning in pharmacy benefit managers. 

PBMs negotiate drug prices. The bill requires that small pharmacies be paid a dispensing fee and sets up restrictions on PBM strategies that steer patients to fill prescriptions at certain pharmacies. As the bill passed on a 75 to 15 vote, a group of pharmacists were watching in the House balcony – many wiping away tears. During the House debate, Republican Representative Brett Barker, who is also a pharmacist from Nevada, said over 200 Iowa pharmacies have closed in the last decade.

State Representative Shannon Lundgren, a Republican from Peosta, says pharmacies are access points for health care in Iowa.

Representative Helena Hayes, a Republican from New Sharon, says Iowans have waited too long for these reforms.

The bill prohibits PBMs from forcing patients to use mail-order pharmacies.

story courtesy of Radio Iowa