House Business and Labor advances study of prescription drug supply chain

Sen. Sue Vinton, who represents Senate District 20 in Southeastern Yellowstone County, urged the House Business and Labor Committee to approve Senate Joint Resolution 33, an interim study of Montana’s prescription drug supply chain, saying Montanans are “concerned and really confused” about pharmacy closures and rising patient costs. She told the committee the study would map how pharmacies, PBMs, PSAOs, manufacturers, wholesalers and payers interact and would produce public, data-driven recommendations rather than policy driven by frustration.

Supporters from across the health care and labor sectors told the committee the study is needed to centralize facts. Bruce Spencer, representing Mountain Health Co-op and Cigna, said he could not recall “not 1 study” on the matter and urged a nonadversarial, fact-focused interim review. Stacey Anderson, representing the Montana Primary Care Association and federally qualified health centers, and Tony King, representing the Montana Pharmacy Association, also spoke in favor; Amanda Bridal, representing the Montana AFL-CIO, said high prescription costs reduce workers’ bargaining power and that solutions should not shift costs onto employees.

On executive action, an unidentified committee member moved that Senate Joint Resolution 33 do pass. After brief discussion and expressions of support from members including Representative Bob Lander, the committee called the question and advanced SJ 33 in executive action. The committee did not record a formal roll-call tally for SJ 33 during that executive action; committee minutes state only that the resolution passed in executive action and will move forward as approved by the committee.

The sponsor said the study would be transparent, require voluntary public data sharing, and produce policy options informed by comparable ideas from other states. The committee’s action clears the resolution to be taken up in the next stages designated by leadership.