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Resident urges Kane County committee to track prescription drug affordability bill targeting PBMs
Summary
During public comment, Mark Avelar asked the Kane County Legislative Committee to add Senate Bill 709 — a renamed “Prescription Drug Affordability Act” that would regulate pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) — to the committee watch list and to consider reporting it to the county executive committee.
Mark Avelar, a member of the public, used the committee's public-comment period to ask the Kane County Legislative Committee to follow state legislation that would regulate pharmacy benefits managers, or PBMs.
Avelar told the committee PBMs — including firms commonly known as the big three, CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRx — are increasingly vertically integrated with insurers and health-care conglomerates and said that regulation of PBMs has lagged behind other drug-affordability efforts. “This is near and dear to me,” Avelar said, describing prior roundtable discussions in Washington about prescription-drug affordability and his own advocacy on the subject.
Avelar asked the committee to add Senate Bill 709 to its watch list. He said SB709 was recently amended by Senate Amendment 1 in a “gut-and-replace” maneuver and was retitled the Prescription Drug Affordability Act. He requested that the committee consider sending the bill forward to the county executive committee’s May 9 meeting if the committee determines it should be on the county’s active legislative priorities.
Avelar also noted a bipartisan letter from 39 state attorneys general, circulated by the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG), asking Congress to act on drug affordability. He said he had provided the committee chair with the letter and other materials for review.
Michelle Gumbs, chair of the legislative committee, acknowledged receipt of the materials and said the committee had forwarded them for review; she told Avelar the county would provide a response on May 7.
Why it matters: county legislative tracking and decisions about whether to actively support or monitor state and federal measures affect how county staff and lobbyists prioritize outreach and whether county officials will seek to influence or request amendments to bills that could affect residents’ access to affordable prescription drugs.
The committee did not take a formal vote on SB709 during the meeting; Avelar’s request was recorded in the public-comment record and forwarded to staff for follow up.
