Opinion: Mergers between health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers could be bad for your health
Beware the tail wagging the dog in mergers between insurers and pharmacy benefit managers, with patients unwittingly prescribed medicines designed more to pad profits than improve health.
Pharmacy benefit managers, which long ran under the public radar, now have President Trump’s attention. In a recent speech on drug pricing, he called out “the dishonest double-dealing that allows the middleman to pocket rebates and discounts that should be passed on to consumers and patients.”
(PBMs) buy drugs from manufacturers, distribute them to patients, and manage drug benefits for insurers and employers. Once an obscure segment of the health care financing landscape, pharmacy benefit managers have those of the pharmaceutical companies that develop the drugs they distribute.
