Chrissy Buteas, President and CEO of the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ), issued a statement on Assembly Bill A-4953, known as the Patient and Provider Protection Act. The statement highlights concerns over pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) practices that are said to negatively impact patients.
"The House Energy and Commerce Committee, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times have all recently outlined pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) abuses that harm patients; the FTC has even filed suit against the three largest PBMs," Buteas stated.
According to Buteas, PBMs contribute to inflated drug prices by profiting when prescription costs increase. "In fact, less than half of the money spent on prescription medicines goes to the company that discovered and manufactured that medicine – the majority of money spent on prescriptions goes to PBMs and middlemen in the system who profit off of patients."
The HealthCare Institute of New Jersey has been an advocate for increased transparency within the PBM marketplace. The organization supports reforms aimed at decoupling PBM profits from drug prices through a flat fee-for-service model, which is expected to reduce patient costs and improve access.
Buteas expressed eagerness to collaborate with sponsors of Assembly Bill A-4953 in efforts to curb PBM abuses and lower expenses for patients. "We look forward to working with the bill’s sponsors to stop PBM abuses and lower costs for patients."
