Rep. Tlaib urges action on PBMs, presses committee to back 'Pharmacies Fight Back' measures
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Summary
Representative Rashida Tlaib warned committee members that opaque PBM practices are pushing independent pharmacies to close and urged support for the Pharmacies/Pharmacists Fight Back Act to boost transparency and protect community pharmacies.
Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are exercising unchecked power that is harming independent pharmacies and limiting patient access to care.
Tlaib said large PBMs including "CVS, CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and Optimum Rx" were reporting record profits while independent pharmacies were suffering, with some facing monthly losses "of 60 to 80,000" (as described to her by a local pharmacist). She said the loss of community pharmacies was creating "pharmacy deserts" and limiting patient options.
She urged committee support for the Pharmacies Fight Back Act, and for broader congressional action to increase transparency and accountability for PBMs. The transcript records that Representative Debbie Dingell and Tlaib sent a letter to the postmaster general about the earlier postal matter; Tlaib also entered a letter from Covenant Community Care (a federally qualified health center) into the hearing record describing concerns with 340B.
The committee’s presiding member acknowledged cosponsorship of the Pharmacist's/Pharmacies Fight Back Act and pledged to work with Tlaib to advance oversight and legislation. No formal markup or vote occurred in the member-day hearing; members may submit additional testimony within five legislative days.
Next steps: Tlaib asked members to cosponsor and support the bill and to pursue oversight of PBM practices; the hearing record will include the letter from Covenant Community Care.
