While the creation of Pharmacy Benefit Mangers (PBMs) in the late 1960s was supposed to help lower healthcare costs for patients, the horizontal consolidation and vertical integration seen in the market have caused healthcare costs to skyrocket. Now, decades later, PBMs have become market-dominating giants at the expense of patients, with six of the largest PBMs managing 95% of all prescriptions filled in the United States. This type of market consolidation and control creates a system where patients have fewer choices, lower quality care, and higher prices. Pennsylvanians deserve the exact opposite - more choices, higher quality care, and lower prices.
 
This year, a bipartisan coalition of 39 state and territory attorneys general urged Congress to adopt legislation prohibiting PBMs from owning or operating pharmacies in an attempt to reign in the outsized influence they exert. Rather than waiting for Congress to act, I will be introducing legislation that would prohibit PBMs from acquiring or holding, directly or indirectly, a permit to operate a pharmacy in our Commonwealth. This prohibition will foster competition in the marketplace and give patients more choice in their healthcare and more affordable prices for their necessary medications.
 
I urge you to join me in sponsoring this vital piece of legislation that will ensure large corporations are not taking advantage of Pennsylvanians and profiting at the expense of the everyday citizen.