Rep Michael Echols (R)
Governor Landry could call a special session so lawmakers can approve legislation to prohibit pharmacy benefit managers from owning drug stores. Landry says this measure would lower prescription drug costs. But Monroe Representative Michael Echols believes his PBM Reform bill approved on the final day of the regular session will lower drug costs over time.
“PBM’s are supposed to be helping you reduce and manage costs, but over the years you’ve never seen a single prescription drug go down in cost on average, they’ve all gone up and that’s because these PBM’s are some of the most exponentially profitable entities in the entire nation,” Echols said.
Echols says his legislation ensures that prescription drug rebates and discounts flow directly to the patients or their health plans, instead of pharmacy benefit managers who are considered the middlemen.
“Eliminates the rebating schemes they do, some of the things on spread pricing, it makes them pay local pharmacies at least to the national scale or level,” Echols said.
Echols says his PBM reform bill is a simple idea, if there’s a deal on your medicine, those savings should go to you….not a corporate company in the middle.
“The goal in all of this is transparency, providing a lot of benefit to end the game consumer on actually getting the rebates themselves, versus them being split between these big colorful health plans and then these PBMs,” Echols said.
Governor Landy is expected to sign the legislation.
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