Robert Levin: State lawmakers should put patients first, stop predatory pharmacy middlemen
Excerpt from Florida Politics
For years, PBMs had an unrestricted license to manipulate the health care system.
Wouldn’t it be nice if, after your doctor prescribed a particular medication, you could simply go to your favorite pharmacy and pick up the exact medicine chosen by your physician at an affordable price?
Unfortunately, for far too many Floridians, this isn’t how things work in the real world — and countless patients are paying for it with higher prices.
Here’s why: Profit-driven middlemen called Pharmacy Benefit Managers or PBMs, insert themselves between your doctor and your pharmacist, making decisions that can cost you money and push you toward less effective and higher-priced medications. While they were originally created to negotiate better prices and streamline care, PBMs have strayed far from their intended purpose.