Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) of California has once again sided with his insurance firm benefactors and vetoed a PBM reform bill that could have made a real difference for community pharmacies and patients. This is Newsom’s second time in three years to veto a common sense PBM reform bill.
The bill, introduced by Calif. Sen. Scott Wiener (D), would have required the state to create a licensing system for PBMs and mandate that the PBMs disclose pricing information on their transactions with drugmakers and that 100 percent of negotiated discounts are passed on to consumers.
NCPA is committed to working with our state partners in California to make sure PBMs are held accountable for their opaque business practices that increase drug costs and limit patient access to their local pharmacies while padding their pockets. Groups like the California Pharmacists Association and others have worked tirelessly for a long time on this issue, but the fight is not over. To learn more about the veto, see this Calmatters article.
