EXCLUSIVE — Outside conservative groups are pushing Republican lawmakers to reject an effort in Congress to crack down on pharmacy benefit managers as a way to address the rising cost of prescription drugs.
The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste unleashed its latest TV ad campaign against efforts by lawmakers such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to rein in pharmaceutical middlemen, arguing such a move would be “one step closer” toward nationalizing healthcare and actually raise drug prices as a result. The TV ads are part of the group’s larger multimillion-dollar campaign launched earlier this year targeting anti-PBM legislation that paints the proposal as an effort by Democrats to increase government control over healthcare decisions.
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“Bernie Sanders has a radical plan: government control of your pharmacy benefits. So why are some Republicans following Bernie?” the narrator says in the ad, which was first obtained by the Washington Examiner. “Bernie’s socialist bill guts your pharmacy benefits, limits drug choices, and increases costs, putting us one step closer to government controlling your healthcare. Call them today and tell them to oppose Bernie’s government takeover of your pharmacy benefits.”
The 30-second ad specifically targets Sanders’s Pharmacy Benefit Manager Reform Act, which was introduced earlier this year in an attempt to increase oversight of PBM services on behalf of health insurance groups. Under the bill, PBM companies would be required to disclose information about sales and billing to the plan’s sponsor, “including the amount of prescription drug copayment assistance funded by drug manufacturers, a list of covered drugs billed under the plan during the reporting period, and the total net spending by the health plan on prescription drugs.”
The legislation was crafted after a series of negotiations between Sanders and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), with the pair lauding the deal as a way to cut down on generic drug prices and increase transparency from health insurance providers.
“We are happy to announce that we’ve come to an agreement to consider critical pieces of legislation to reform pharmacy benefit managers and expand the availability of low-cost generic drugs through the HELP Committee,” the two said in a joint statement.
The bill has already received bipartisan support. However, that push has received some criticism from outside conservatives such as CCAGW, who have expressed frustration with advancing legislation they say is largely influenced by Democrats.
“The intent [of the ad] is to remind conservative senators, Republican senators, that they should not be doing anything that Sen Bernie Sanders is proposing in relation to health care,” CCAGW President Ryan Schatz told the Washington Examiner. “We know his objective is socialized medicine. We know he wants to interfere in every aspect of the healthcare system.”
Although the ad targets Sanders’s bill, the group said it plans to extend those attacks to a slate of other anti-PBM-related legislation making its way through both the House and Senate.
“That would be a much longer ad,” Schatz said, but “yes, we’re trying to make the message clear that this is interference in private contracts and that Republican senators shouldn’t help.”
“The ad campaign is focused on that. But it does give us an opportunity, as we’re doing now, to talk more about the overall issue and the value of PBMs and the healthcare ecosystem,” he said.
Democrats have long sought to rein in the power of PBMs, introducing legislation in Congress to disclose their negotiated drug rebates and discounts so patients can see the real costs of their prescription drugs. In doing so, lawmakers say the new regulations would lower out-of-pocket medication costs for seniors as well as expand access to more affordable generic drugs.
However, Schatz argues the use of PBMs is largely misunderstood among lawmakers.
“No one is forcing anyone to use a PBM,” he said. “They were created to fill a need. … They negotiate prices, along with insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and the pharmacies. There’s a whole system of doing this that has worked well.”
Other Republicans have pushed back against the criticism of GOP lawmakers advancing anti-PBM legislation, arguing the legislation would only serve to lower healthcare costs.
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“Almost every single Republican voter is asking the House to lower their healthcare costs,” a senior GOP aide told the Washington Examiner in September. “Tens of millions of adults have medical debt. More than 95% of Americans support price transparency to drive down costs. While lowering healthcare costs across the board by building on President Trump’s work to force hospitals to post their prices, this bill will also cut the deficit by nearly $1 billion.”
The CCAGW ad campaign is the second wave of such ads to hit the TV airwaves since July, and the ads are set to run nationally in states such as Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Missouri. The group noted it could expand the campaign across other states as the campaign progresses, with this second round costing several million dollars.
