Arkansas H.B. 1150, groundbreaking legislation, passed the Senate with overwhelming support and is now headed to the desk of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R). The bill addresses vertical integration, one of the direct causes of PBM conflicts of interest and anticompetitive business practices, by prohibiting state permits to pharmacies owned by PBMs.
The bill has sped through the legislative process. First, it cleared the House on April 3 with a strong 89-4 vote, with four voting present, after a substantive debate. Just five days later it was voted out of the Senate Insurance Committee after strong exchanges between committee members and those testifying both for and against the bill. PCMA and the health plans didn’t testify in that hearing, leaving the opposition primarily to pharmacists employed by PBM-owned pharmacies.
