From Pressure to Progress: Patients, Pharmacists, Employers, and Unions from Across the Country Celebrate PBM Reform

Last week marked an important milestone as President Trump signed a bipartisan bill that includes several key provisions to hold PBMs accountable. After many years of countless voices sounding the alarm on PBMs’ role in driving up prescription drug costs, federal policymakers have taken a meaningful step to curb abusive PBM practices and begin repairing a prescription drug pricing system that has failed patients, communities and pharmacies for far too long.  

Patients and caregivers, community pharmacists, employers, and labor voices across the U.S. have continuously carried the same message: the current PBM model is not working. This law marks a step in the right direction towards a more fair and transparent prescription drug system, and many deserve to celebrate this win, including: 

• National Consumers League, the consumer watch dog leading the charge to ensure consumers get a fair price.  

• National Community Pharmacists Association and all local pharmacists who have been squeezed by PBM practices.  

• Real Voices Real Rx Reform members and partners of PBMA who continue to highlight concerns about how PBMs and vertically integrated insurers create real barriers to patient affordability and access. 

• Lawmakers, physicians, and business leaders spoke out against the role of PBMs in driving higher drug costs. From Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost urging congressional action to advocates like Dr. Glaucomflecken, Mark Cuban, and Rep. Buddy Carter calling to put patients over profits. 

• Bill and Shannon Schmidtknecht, Wisconsin parents who have long advocated for reform following the death of their son, Cole, who could not afford his asthma medication. 

• Iowa’s rural communities, who stand to benefit greatly from reforms.  

• Stakeholders from more than 30 states shared their stories via opinion editorials, letters to the editor, letters to Congress, direct outreach to policymakers, and more.  

  
  

Even with this progress, the work is far from over. PBMs and their insurer affiliates have a long history of shifting tactics under scrutiny. Each time reforms close one loophole, the PBM industry looks for another. That is why this is not a moment to wind down but to press harder. The only way to finish the job is to keep the pressure on until the prescription drug system is finally organized around patients and not profiteers. 

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