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Committee approves bill requiring insurers to report prescription-drug rebate amounts
Summary
A House committee voted to pass House Bill 101, which would require health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers serving state plans and public-school employee plans to publish annual reports detailing prescription-drug rebate dollars and percentages and how those amounts are applied to premium reductions.
Representative Douglas told the House Health Committee that House Bill 101 (LC520643) would require health insurers and their pharmacy benefit managers serving the Georgia State Health Benefit Plan and public-school employee plans to file an annual report on prescription-drug rebates and how those rebates are applied to premium reductions.
The measure would require the annual report to be published and maintained on the Department of Community Health public website. Proponents said the bill is limited to reporting — not to directing how rebates are spent — and would provide transparency about the size of rebates in dollars and as a percentage of premiums.
Representative Douglas, the bill sponsor, described it as "just the reporting bill," asking insurers to "tell us how those rebates are being used." Representative Taylor asked whether the bill would cover drugs under the federal 340B program; Douglas did not identify that program in the bill text during the hearing. Representative Scott said teachers and other plan participants have not seen insurance costs fall even as pay raises are awarded, noting the importance of transparency.
Industry testimony was not recorded in this committee hearing; debate focused on scope and reporting mechanics. Committee members discussed that insurers typically say rebates are applied to premium reductions and therefore are not separately passed to individual patients; the bill would make the aggregate dollar amounts and percentages visible to the public and policymakers.
Representative Scott moved that the committee "do pass." After a second, the committee approved the bill by voice vote; individual yeas and nays were not recorded in the transcript. Committee officials told the sponsor to complete the necessary form following passage.
What’s next: The bill passed the committee and will proceed through the legislative process with the LC (legislative computer) number recorded as LC520643. The committee did not set additional reporting details beyond publication on the DCH website during this hearing.
