Yesterday, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced legislation, the Break Up Big Medicine Act, which would force companies that own health insurers or PBMs to divest their pharmacy businesses within three years. This is an expansion of the Patients Before Monopolies Act that they introduced at the end of 2024, which NCPA endorsed. The Senators point out that three PBMs own 80% of drug prescription claims, three wholesalers own 98% of all drug distribution, and 80 percent of all physicians now work for a corporate parent company. This legislation would:
- Prohibit a parent company from owning a medical provider or management services organization and a PBM or an insurer;
- Prohibit a parent company of a prescription drug or medical device wholesaler from owning a medical provider or management services organization;
- Require that a company in violation of these provisions come into compliance within one year of the bill's enactment;
- Create automatic penalties if a company fails to comply in a timely manner, including disgorgement of profits and forced sales of assets;
- Enable the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Justice (DOJ), state attorneys general, and private parties to bring lawsuits against violators; and
- Allow the FTC and DOJ to review and block future actions that would recreate the conflicts of interest prevented by the bill.
You can read their press release here.
NCPA
