On Wednesday the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held markup of S. 127, the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Transparency Act of 2023. The bill is sponsored by Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa). The committee advanced the bill in a bipartisan vote of 18-9. The PBM Transparency Act empowers the Federal Trade Commission to increase drug pricing transparency and would prohibit several abusive PBM practices. It also grants the FTC and state attorneys general the ability to penalize and/or initiate legal action against PBMs, for these prohibited practices, in the commercial health insurance market and directs the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study into PBM practices. NCPA was proud to have worked hard behind the scenes with Cantwell and Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) on an amendment which closes a loophole that could have allowed PBMs to continue to engage in the abusive practice of clawbacks and protects the DIR final rule that limited post-adjudication clawbacks.
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