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Georgia committee advances bill requiring insurers to report pharmacy rebate amounts to DCH
Summary
A Georgia House committee voted to advance House Bill 101, which would require health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers to publish an annual report to the Department of Community Health showing prescription drug rebate dollars and percentages applied to premium reductions for state and public-school health plans.
House Bill 101, a bipartisan transparency measure that would require health insurers and their pharmacy benefit managers to report annual prescription-drug rebate amounts to the Department of Community Health, advanced out of committee on a voice vote.
The bill, presented by Representative Douglas, would require insurers and PBMs that contract with Georgia’s State Health Benefit Plan, the public school teachers health care plan and the public school employees health plan to publish an annual report on the DCH public website showing the dollar value and percentage of prescription drug rebates applied to premium reductions for those plans.
The measure is aimed at disclosing how rebates are being used. “They don't share that information of how much we're saving when they give us a rebate,” Representative Douglas said in committee. “So we just want them to report and tell us how those savings are being spent.”
Supporters said the requirement is limited to reporting and would not itself mandate rebate pass-throughs or premium reductions; it would make the rebate amounts transparent to the public and to the General Assembly. Committee members also said they want the state, as a large purchaser of coverage, to have clearer data about how rebates are applied. Representative Scott moved that the committee report the bill favorably; the motion was seconded and the committee approved the bill by voice vote.
Representative Taylor asked whether drugs covered by a federal 340B program were included in the bill’s scope; Representative Douglas said she did not see a specific 340B exclusion in the text but did not commit to an authoritative reading on that point during the committee hearing.
The bill’s draft cites LC520643 as the legislative counsel number. The DCH public website is specified as the repository for the annual reports.
The committee did not record roll-call vote totals in the transcript; the chair announced that the bill passed and invited the author to prepare required forms for the committee chair’s signature.
