PBM Reporting Transparency Act

Key Points

• This bill, introduced by Mr. Warner and a group of bipartisan senators, requires a deep dive into how "pharmacy benefit managers" work with Medicare. These companies act as middlemen who negotiate drug prices between insurance plans and pharmacies.
• The goal is to find out how secret deals between these middlemen and insurance companies affect what seniors pay out of their own pockets for medicine. It also looks at whether these deals are making it harder for local pharmacies to stay in business by changing how much they get paid.
• An independent advisory group will create two major reports for Congress. These reports will look for trends in drug pricing and provide specific recommendations on how to fix problems that make healthcare more expensive for regular people.
• The first report will be finished about two years after the government provides the necessary data, with a follow-up report two years later. This helps Congress see if drug costs and middleman practices are getting better or worse over time.

Impact Analysis

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