Durbin Delivers Opening Statement In Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing On Pharmacy Benefit Managers
Today’s hearing will investigate the role PBMs play in the drug supply chain and their impact on competition, patients, providers, & pharmacies
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today delivered an opening statement during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing entitled “PBM Power Play: Examining Competition Issues in the Prescription Drug Supply Chain.” This hearing will investigate the role pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) play in the drug supply chain and their impact on competition, patients, providers, and pharmacies.
In his remarks, Durbin highlighted the role PBMs play in distorting patient affordability and choice in the prescription drug market. He also emphasized how President Donald Trump and his allies have curtailed efforts to address PBMs, including by illegally firing the Democratic Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioners who had been investigating and suing PBMs for anticompetitive behavior, and derailing the December government funding bill, which contained bipartisan PBM reforms.
Key Durbin Quotes:
“People in the United States pay the highest prescription drug prices in the world… on average, four times more than people in similar countries pay for brand-name medications.”
“Democrats took the first step to address this issue three years ago by passing the Inflation Reduction Act… Among other things, this law capped the price of insulin at $35 per month. It set a $2,000 limit on annual out-of-pocket expenses for seniors… And it let the executive branch negotiate with Big Pharma to lower prices under Medicare—something President Biden used to reduce selected drug prices by up to 79 percent. All that without a single vote from the other side of the aisle.”
“But between those critical reforms, there is much more work we can do on a bipartisan basis.”
“Another area in need of reform is the topic of today’s hearing, pharmacy benefit managers or PBMs… They are [secretive] middlemen that extract colossal profits from patients, doctors, and pharmacies.”
“The ‘Big 3’ PBMs—CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and OptumRx—dominate the market and control the flow of prescriptions for more than 200 million Americans… And over the years, several large insurers, PBMs, and pharmacies have merged—creating vast conglomerates that ignore conflicts of interest at the expense of the patient’s pocketbook and their health.”
“They engage in self-dealing to steer patients to a PBM’s preferred pharmacy and they squeeze out small, rural pharmacies—not just in Iowa, but in Illinois too—with lowball payments. PBMs also abuse rebates and fees to manipulate their formularies, ensuring they—not the doctors—decide which drugs patients receive.”
“So, who is the cop on the beat? Isn’t there a federal agency that can address these abuses? As it turns out, there is. It’s called the Federal Trade Commission, and under their last chair, they led the effort to investigate these abusive practices. The FTC even filed suit against the Big 3 PBMs for their anticompetitive and unfair practices on insulin pricing.”
“But in a brazen and plainly illegal move, I’m afraid this administration fired the two Democratic commissioners that stopped the progress of this case.”
“If this Committee cares about addressing the PBM abuses that make prescription drugs unaffordable, then every member should speak out against these illegal firings.”
“But enforcement is not the only answer. We need legislation… Congress came together—House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans—to craft a package to reform the PBM industry. Who would stop such a package… Elon Musk. Last December, hours before a vote on this PBM agreement as part of the year-end continuing resolution, Elon Musk, with his chainsaw, unleashed a barrage of tweets opposing the package. House Republicans caved. That was it.”
“I hope today’s hearing builds on the bipartisan package of patent and competition reform bills we advanced earlier this year. But if we want to deliver real relief at the pharmacy counter, it’s going to require Republicans and Democrats to stand up to Elon Musk and his chainsaw, looking to cut anything in sight.”
Video of Durbin’s opening statement is available here.
Audio of Durbin’s opening statement is available here.
Footage of Durbin’s opening statement is available here for TV Stations.
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