House Passes Reps. Courtney, Houchin’s Bipartisan Bill to Lower Prescription Drug Costs
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the House passed the bipartisan Lower Costs, More Transparency Act which included legislation led by Reps. Joe Courtney (D-CT) and Erin Houchin (R-IN) that shines a light on the fees Americans pay at the pharmacy counter.
Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) are the middlemen between pharmacies, drugmakers, and health insurers who negotiate the price Americans pay for prescription drugs. Currently, PBMs are not complying with the rules that require they disclose the profits they make from deals with drug companies, often leading to bonuses for PBMs and higher costs for patients.
The lawmakers’ legislation strengthens requirements to ensure PBMs disclose their compensation and business practices to health care plan fiduciaries (those responsible for administering employee-sponsored health care). Employers and their employees deserve to know that the insurance products they are buying were negotiated in their best interests.
“As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis said, ‘sunlight is the best disinfectant’ to fight corruption. This bipartisan legislation takes an important step to achieving that goal by improving the transparency of the middlemen, or PBMs, who set prescription drug costs,” said Congressman Courtney. “I am pleased the House took decisive action to pass Rep. Houchin’s and my bill, and ensure employer sponsored insurance gives patients access to care and treatment that is valuable to them, not to commercial entities.”
“I was proud to introduce the Hidden Fees Disclosure Act with Representative Courtney and am glad to see its inclusion in the Lower Cost, More Transparency Act. This bipartisan legislation is the first step toward affordability in healthcare. Prescription drug pricing is among the issues I hear about most from constituents. We can’t drive down cost without the benefit of full transparency. I look forward to continuing our work together on healthcare affordability. Until that is achieved, I’ll keep contending on behalf of patients in the ninth district,” said Congresswoman Houchin.
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