Independent pharmacists start ads asking Congress for relief from pharmacy benefit managers, ask Supreme Court to hear a case

Photo by Getty Images via The Commonwealth Fund

Kentucky Health News

Independent community pharmacists have begun an advertising campaign to get Congress to rein in pharmacy benefit managers, the middlemen between drug and health-insurance companies. They are also challenging a court ruling that could negate the PBM reforms made by Kentucky and other states.

The ad campaign was launched Thursday, June 13, by the National Community Pharmacists Association. Its CEO, B. Douglas Hoey, said "Eighty percent of all prescriptions in the U.S. are controlled by just three pharmacy benefit managers, and they are all owned by or affiliated with the largest insurance companies in the country. These are Fortune 15 corporations that behave like monopolies, and they are hurting patients with higher prescription costs and killing off small businesses at the average rate of one every day. There is broad bipartisan support in Congress for reform, and we are determined to get it passed before the end of the year."

On Friday, June 14, NCPA joined other pharmacy groups in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a recent decision from the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals against a 2019 Oklahoma law than bans PBMs from requiring patients to pick up their prescriptions from PBM-affiliated pharmacies. The groups say the ruling "imperils laws enacted in almost every other state following the 2020 Supreme Court ruling" that approved state regulation of PBMs, reports Gabrielle Wanneh of Inside Health Policy.

In 2023, the Kentucky General Assembly passed Senate Bill 188, aimed at keeping the state's independent pharmacies from closing. It sets dispensing fees, bans PBMs from forcing patients to get their drugs through mail order, and keeps them from steering patients to pharmacies that they own. The PBMs argued that the law will cause insurance premiums to increase and its mandates in the bill won't allow businesses to gain from savings that PBMs offer.

Independent pharmacies say they are losing money because of low fees paid by PBMs. The bill sets a minimum dispensing fee of $10.64 per prescription for the state's independent pharmacies until a study of dispensing costs is completed by the state Department of Insurance. This "gap-fill payment floor" will not be available to chain pharmacies. The results of the study will eventually dictate what the dispensing fee should be going forward. The study is to be repeated every two years, with fee adjustments made accordingly.

The law, sponsored by Sen. Max Wise, R-Campbellsville, also prohibits a PBM from reimbursing a pharmacy that it owns at a higher rate than a community pharmacy, or from keeping a community pharmacy from filling a 90-day prescription for a maintenance drug. And a PBM will not be able to penalize a community pharmacy from sharing information with a patient on the cheapest option to pay for their medications.

Legislative lobbying reports for last session rank pharmacy-benefit managers fifth, hospitals sixth, Altria 11th, Anthem 17th, docs 18th

The legislature meets in the Kentucky State Capitol.

By Al Cross

Kentucky Health News

The trade association for pharmacy benefit managers, which act as middlemen between drug and health-insurance companies, was the fifth largest reported spender on lobbying the state legislature in the first three months of the year, according to a compilation by the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission. 

The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association reported spending $94,694 on lobbying the General Assembly from January through March. The session began Jan. 2 and was over for most purposes by the end of March.

On March 28, the legislature gave final passage to Senate Bill 188, which is intended to keep the state's independent pharmacies from closing. It sets dispensing fees, bans PBMs from forcing patients to get their drugs through mail order, and keeps them from steering patients to pharmacies that they own. The PBMs argued that the law will cause insurance premiums to increase and its mandates in the bill won't allow businesses to gain from savings PBMs offer.

Independent pharmacies say they are losing money because of low fees paid by PBMs. The bill sets a minimum dispensing fee of $10.64 per prescription for the state's independent pharmacies until a study of dispensing costs is completed by the state Department of Insurance. This "gap-fill payment floor" will not be available to chain pharmacies. The results of the study will eventually dictate what the dispensing fee should be going forward. The study is to be repeated every two years, with fee adjustments made accordingly.

The law, sponsored by Sen. Max Wise, R-Campbellsville, also prohibits a PBM from reimbursing a pharmacy that it owns at a higher rate than a community pharmacy, or from keeping a community pharmacy from filling a 90-day prescription for a maintenance drug. And PBM will not be able to penalize a community pharmacy from sharing information with a patient on the cheapest option to pay for their medications.

Several other major lobbying interests dealt with health-care issues. The biggest spender was the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, at $151,010, followed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, at $139,599. Among many other things, the ACLU wants the legislature to enact exceptions to the state's near-total abortion ban.

Ranking sixth, just behind the PBM lobby, was the Kentucky Hospital Association, at $85,835. In 11th place was Altria Client Services, a cigarette company, at $73,309; it supported the successful bill to limit legal sales of vaping products to those approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Ranking 17th was Elevance Health and Affiliates doing business as Anthem Inc., at $59,946. The health-insurance firm was followed by the Kentucky Medical Association, the main lobby for physicians, at $54,051, and the Kentucky Primary Care Association, a trade group for health clinics, at $49,416.

Overall, spending on legislative lobbying for the first three months of 2024 was a record of $9.719 million, the Ethics Commission reported Tuesday: "The previous record for the same period was $9.343 million, set last year; 933 businesses and organizations registered to lobby in Kentucky, spending $9.427 million; 727 lobbyists were paid $8.289 million in compensation, and also reported $291,942 in expenses."

Bills to become law on vaping, pharmacy reform, vaccinations, drugs, at-home blood testing, coverage of cancer screening, more

Kentucky State Capitol (Photo via Wikipedia)

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

In its 2024 session the Kentucky General Assembly has passed dozens of health-related bills that address a range of topics. With one day left in the session, here are some of them: 

Vaping: House Bill 11 limits legal sale of vaping products to those approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It also creates a database of retailers that sell the products and sets fines for retailers, manufacturers and wholesalers who violate the law.

HB 142 requires school districts to adopt specific policies that penalize students for possession of "alternative nicotine products, tobacco products or vapor products" and report nicotine-related incidents to the state Department of Education. Changes in the Senate, accepted by the House, allow schools and their governing bodies to apply for grants related to nicotine usage and remove the mandate that schools suspend students with a third possession violation. 

Pharmacy reform: Senate Bill 188 changes laws governing commercial pharmacy benefit managers, with requirements aimed at saving the state's independent pharmacies from closing.  It provides for dispensing fees, bans PBMs from forcing patients to get their drugs through mail order, and keeps them from steering patients to pharmacies that they own.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Max Wise, R-Campbellsville, also prohibits a PBM from reimbursing a pharmacy that it owns at a higher rate than a community pharmacy, or from keeping a community pharmacy from filling a 90-day prescription for a maintenance drug. And a PBM will not be able to penalize a community pharmacy from sharing information with a patient on the cheapest option to pay for their medications.

Reducing barriers to screening

Cancer detection: HB 52 will require health-insurance plans to cover all preventive cancer screenings and tests that are consistent with nationally recognized clinical practice guidelines without requiring patients to pay any cost-sharing requirements, including a deductible charge for the services.

The sponsor, Rep. Deanna Frazier Gordon, a Republican from Richmond, told Kentucky Health News in February that the cost for screenings is often a barrier for people who often don't get screened because they don't have symptoms.

HB 115 will eliminate co-payments and cost-sharing requirements for high-risk individuals who need follow-up diagnostic imaging to rule out breast cancer. Currently, screening mammograms are covered by insurance, but follow-up exams are often not. 

“Thousands of Kentuckians require diagnostic and supplemental breast imaging every year, yet many forgo them due to out-of-pocket costs. Not any more,"  Molly Guthrie, vice president of policy and advocacy at the breast-cancer foundation Susan G. Komen, said in a news release. "This life-saving legislation means they will now receive the breast imaging they require, leading to an earlier breast cancer diagnosis and often better health outcomes."

Vaccines and drugs  

Vaccinations: HB 274 will allow Kentucky pharmacists to order and administer vaccinations to children as young as 5. The state's routine vaccination rates for kindergarteners remain below pre-pandemic levels.

Pseudoephedrine: HB 386 will raise the annual purchase limits on pseudoephedrine to help people with chronic allergies legally obtain enough of the medication to meet their needs. The bill changes the current 24-gram annual limit to an 86.4 grams, and remove the limit on the number of packages per transaction, said sponsor Robert Duvall, R-Bowling Green.

Kratom: HB 293 will regulate kratom, a natural herbal supplement that is not currently regulated. It is often used for anxiety, pain, PTSD and opioid withdrawal. The bill defines kratom, prohibits sales to people under 21, puts it behind the counter and provides guidelines for manufacturing and labeling. It also says federal law supersedes state law on the matter. 

Blood thinners: HB 31 allows Medicaid patients in Kentucky who are on blood thinners to use at-home machines to test their blood. Patients on some blood thinners, like warfarin, now require a weekly trip to the doctor's office for blood work that looks at how fast their blood clots.

Amanda Crabtree, a registered nurse at University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital, told WKYT-TV that she hopes that other states will follow Kentucky's example in this legislation. Crabtree said she expects that Medicaid patients could receive their at-home machines as soon as this summer.

Health-care business issues

Provider liability: HB 159 will protect health-care providers from criminal liability when a medical error harms a patient unless the harm results from gross negligence or wanton, willful, malicious or intentional misconduct. 

This effort was led by the Kentucky Nurses Association, which said the bill "will prevent health-care professionals from being charged criminally for making a medical error; that makes it good for nurses and nursing, and puts Kentucky at the forefront of developing laws to protect health-care workers." 

Workplace violence: HB 194 extends to contract workers, such as travel nurses, the law that makes violence against health-care workers a third-degree assault. It also extends this protection, now limited to hospitals, to contract employees at health clinics, doctor offices, dental offices and long-term care facilities. 

Sepsis: HB 477 establishes diagnostic criteria for sepsis allow hospitals to preserve current rules used for reimbursement of sepsis care, which allow payment when it is detected early, instead of only allowing reimbursement after organ failure occurs. 

"We know that if sepsis is caught early, the likelihood of survival is great," Jim Musser, vice president for policy with the Kentucky Hospital Association, told Kentucky Health News in March. "But for every hour that we wait, the chance of mortality increases by 7 percent." In sepsis, "The body responds improperly to an infection," says the Mayo Clinic. "Sepsis may progress to septic shock . . . When the damage is severe, it can lead to death."

Other health bills that passed

Youth medical records: HB 174 allows parents have access to their child’s medical records until they turn 18. Right now, children 13 and older must sign a waiver for parents to have access to them. HB 174 also updates the state's Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment form, which defines a person's end-of-life wishes.

Veteran suicide prevention: HB 30 calls on the state Department of Veterans Affairs to create a suicide prevention program for service members, veterans and their families.

Stuttering: SB 111 eliminates some insurance coverage limits on speech therapy for stuttering. It was promoted by former UK basketball star Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who has overcome stuttering.

Medicaid: SB 71 is designed to keep people from coming to Kentucky to establish residence so that they can sign up for drug treatment to be paid for by Medicaid. One challenge resulting from this practice, according to Rep. Shane Baker, R-Somerset, is that when they leave the program, they are often homeless. 

SB 280 will allow Level II trauma centers that partner with a  university to get the university-hospital rate for services delivered as part of that residency program.

Legislature, Beshear pass law to protect independent pharmacies in Kentucky from commercial pharmacy benefit managers

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

A bill to address an unfair playing field between commercial pharmacy-benefit managers and independent pharmacists has been signed into law and will take effect Jan. 1, 2025. 

Rosemary Smith, co-founder of the Kentucky Independent Pharmacist
Alliance in her store (Lexington Herald-Leader file photo by Silas Walker)

As the final vote for Senate Bill 188 was made late on March 28, Rosemary Smith, co-founder of the Kentucky Independent Pharmacist Alliance, said she received at least 100 texts while watching it unfold on Kentucky Educational Television, many from pharmacists saying they were crying tears of joy and relief. 

"They were in tears for their businesses, for their patients and for, you know, their profession. . . . We were fighting for pharmacy," she said. "It was a huge victory. . . Our legislators listened to the truth and they voted. And it was just amazing." 

Pharmacy benefit managers deal between insurance companies and drug manufacturers; they determine what drugs are offered, how much someone pays for the drug, and how much the pharmacists are paid.

Smith, who owns six independent pharmacies in Eastern Kentucky with her husband, Luther, said getting SB 188 passed was the "fight of the century."

"It was so much harder to get through than Senate Bill 50" in 2020, she said. "It was in the Senate for 48 days. . . . I mean, they fought us with everything," she said of the pharmacy benefit managers' lobby. 

State Sen. Max Wise

Both bills were sponsored by Sen. Max Wise, a Republican from Campbellsville. SB 50 required the state to hire a single PBM for the state's Medicaid program, resulting in savings of $282 million.

SB 188 addresses commercial PBM reform. It sets a minimum dispensing fee of $10.64 per prescription for the state's independent pharmacies until a study of dispensing costs is completed by the Kentucky Department of Insurance. This "gap-fill payment floor" will not be available to chain pharmacies.

The results of the study will eventually dictate what the dispensing fee should be going forward. The study is to be repeated every two years, with fee adjustments made accordingly. 

"That's huge," Smith said, "because right now we're getting sometimes a 15 cents dispensing fee and it (can) cost more than $10.64 to fill a prescription. They are paying us below our costs, so you can't stay in business."

The bill also says PBMs can no longer force patients to get their drugs through mail order, nor can they steer patients to the pharmacies that they own. "This was really big," Smith said.

The bill's opponents told Senate and House committees that the legislation will cause insurance premiums to increase and its mandates in the bill won't allow businesses to capitalize on savings that PBMs provide. 

Smith called Medicaid PBM reform a "game changer" for many independent pharmacists, but said it is not enough on its own to save local pharmacies because Medicaid only makes up about a third of most pharmacy's business, with commercial insurance taking up another third and Medicare Part D the final third. 

She said in the last two years, 69 independent pharmacies have closed in Kentucky. 

"They either close or they sell to CVS or Walgreens because they don't have a choice," she said. "They've taken money out of their 401-Ks. . . . They weren't getting reimbursed the cost to stay in business." 

As for the ones that sold, she said, "They sold for pennies on the dollar. They didn't have a choice. They were forced out by their competition." 

The bill passed the Senate March 26 with a committee substitute and a floor amendment on a vote of 35-1. Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, R- Georgetown, cast the only "no" vote. It passed out of the House 97-0 March 28 and Gov. Andy Beshear signed it into law on April 5. 

Wise said in a Senate floor speech that SB 188 is an "attempt to protect patients and community pharmacies against predatory PBM practices in the commercial market."   

SB 188 also prohibits a PBM from reimbursing a pharmacy that it owns at a higher rate than a community pharmacy or to prohibit a community pharmacy from filling a 90-day prescription for a maintenance drug. Nor can a PBM penalize a community pharmacy from sharing information with a patient on the cheapest option to pay for their medications. 

Smith said West Virginia, Tennessee and Arkansas are the only other states that have done such commercial PBM reform and "Ours is the most comprehensive."

"I think it's the strongest commercial PBM reform bill in the country and I think it will be the model for a lot of other states," she said.  

Wise said, "I'm very proud of this bill. I've carried some pharmacy bills in the past; this was the toughest one I've ever dealt with before. I'm hoping it will solve a lot of the issues." 

But he added that it's time for Congress to tackle the issue on a federal level. To his point, Smith said, "We still have work to do on the federal level and we are going to be involved in that."

Bill to protect independent pharmacies from benefit managers moves after changes; insurers say it would increase premiums

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

A bill to set new controls on commercial pharmacy-benefit managers was approved by a Senate committee on March 14 as a measure scheduled to be approved without debate by the full Senate. 

State Sen. Max Wise

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Max Wise, a Republican from Campbellsville, has worked on PBM reform for years. In the 2020 legislative session he won passage of a bill that required the state to hire a single PBM for the state's Medicaid program, resulting in savings of $282 million. 

That said, while thanking everyone who worked on the bill, both for and against it, Wise told the committee that his latest "may be the hardest one that I have worked on yet during my time in this particular legislature." 

Wise walked the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee through a substiute version of Senate Bill 188, with several changes from the original.

He said the original would have prevented a PBM from requiring Kentuckians to receive their prescriptions by mail, from reimbursing a pharmacy that they own at a higher rate than a community pharmacy, stop the steering of patients to pharmacies owned by the PBM. It also would have allowed community pharmacies to fill 90-day prescriptions for maintenance drugs, prohibited higher co-pays at community pharmacies compared to PBM-owned pharmacies, and  protected  community pharmacies from retaliation for providing cost-saving information to patients. 

Wise added that the original bill would have provided a fair dispensing fee, and mandated that PBMs pay pharmacies at least the cost of the dispensed drugs, provided a fair dispensing fee and include community pharmacies in their networks to offer patients the flexibility to choose a nearby pharmacy. 

He then walked through the changes made by the committee substitute. 

He said it excludes prescription drug plans established under Medicare Part D from the legislation regarding self-funded health plans or Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) plans. 

He said both the original bill and the committee substitute include the phrase "to the extent permitted under federal law" before several sections in the bill.

"The reason for that is the United States Supreme Court in its Rutledge decision greatly limits what authority states have to regulate ERISA plans," he said. "The inclusion of the phrase mentioned means that most of the provisions of Senate Bill 188 will not apply to ERISA plans; it is likely that only the fair dispensing rate will apply." 

Addressing concerns about imposing the Kentucky Medicaid dispensing rate of $10.64 per prescription on the commercial marketplace, Wise said the substitute addresses this in two ways.

First, he said, instead of using that rate as the dispensing fee floor, the state Department of Insurance would conduct a survey of dispensing costs at both large chain pharmacies and small independent pharmacies. While the DOI is completing the survey, Wise said, the Medicaid dispensing rate will be used as a "gap-fill payment floor."

And unlike the original bill, the protection of the Medicaid fee would only be available to independent community pharmacies as licensed by the state Board of Pharmacy and would not be available to chain pharmacies. 

"So why is it important that we include this gap payment for community pharmacies?" Wise asked. "In the last two years over 68 independent pharmacies have either closed their doors or sold out to chain pharmacies [in Kentucky] due to the massive decline in PBM reimbursements." 

The revised bill also removed, at the request of PBMs and insurance companies, provisions on "white bagging," a practice in which a medication must be prepared and distributed by a third-party specialty pharmacy, instead of allowing providers to prepare, administer and bill for the medication.

Wise added that a health-mandate statement estimates that the bill would raise helath-insurance premiums $1.89 to $25.01 per member per month. The range is wide and essentially unpredictable because there is a lack of reliable data regarding PBM contracts. 

Wise said legislators saw similar estimates when they passed his 2020 bill, but this did not come to pass, and "I feel confident that we will see, just like Tennessee and West Virginia have passed, to not see any increases" with commercial PBM reform, which those states have passed.

Sitting at the table with Wise was Ben Mudd, executive director of the Kentucky Pharmacists Association, and Rosemary Smith, co-founder of the Kentucky Independent Pharmacist Alliance. 

Opponents of the bill

Speaking against the bill were Conner Rose, senior director of state affairs for the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, the national PBM lobby, and Hope McLaughlin, senior director of government relations for Elevance Health, which operates as Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield in Kentucky.

Rose noted the high estimate of $25 increase in monthly premiums. "I understand that the purpose of this bill is to help independent pharmacies," Rose said. "But the solution we're talking about today falls on the backs of employers, city and county governments, their employees, the employees of employers in Kentucky, and ultimately individual consumers all across the commonwealth."

He added that the mandates and restrictions in the bill hinder the ability of employers and other plan sponsors to capitalize on the savings that PBMs provide, pointing to how generic drugs offered on the PBM formularies often don't have co-pays or dispensing fees if it comes through the PBMs mail service.  

McLaughlin stressed that the committee substitute was not a compromise and that while they appreciate the removal of the white-bagging provision, she said Anthem still has many concerns about it.  

She said the mandated dispensing fee of $10.64 per prescription "will result in significant, additional health-care costs," and also mentioned the "significant increase" of $25 per month.

And she said the bill "sets a dangerous precedent of putting the General Assembly and the Executive Branch in the role of setting provider reimbursement rates."

But the committee approved the bill without dissent and placed it on the Senate's consent calendar, reserved for bills that are passed on a singke vote without debate. It has 20 sponsors, a bare majority of the Senate.

Besides Wise, they are Republicans Stephen Meredith of Leitchfield, Matthew Deneen of Elizabethtown, Donald Douglas of Nicholasville, Greg Elkins of Winchester, Shelley Funke Frommeyer of Alexandria, Rick Girdler of Somerset, Jimmy Higdon of Lebanon, Jason Howell of Murray, Robby Mills of Henderson, Brandon Storm of London, Lindsey Tichenor of Smithfield, Stephen West of Paris, Phillip Wheeler of Pikeville and Mike Wilson of Bowling Green, and Democrats Karen Berg, Gerald Neal and David Yates of Louisville and Robin Webb of Grayson.

State and federal lawmakers say they're still trying to rein in health-insurance middlemen, called pharmacy-benefit managers

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

A day after Gov. Andy Beshear talked at a White House roundtable about Kentucky's moving to one pharmacy-benefit manager for Medicaid, First District U.S. Rep. James Comer, spoke at another Washington event about his efforts to reform PBMs as chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.

U.S. Rep.  James Comer

“The focus of what PBMs' role should be, should be to help the consumer have more choice, have lower costs," Comer said at a March 7 event hosted by The Hill. "But what’s happening is the focus now with the PBMs is which drug can we make the most profit off of, regardless of what’s best for the patient. And I don't think that's a good business model." 

PBMs are middlemen between insurance plans and drug manufacturers; they determine what drugs are offered, how much someone pays for the drug, and how much pharmacists are paid.  

Earlier this year, Comer's committee passed with broad bipartisan support the Delinking Revenue from Unfair Gouging (DRUG) Act, which would rein in practices by some PBMs that offer health plans under federal employees' health program. 

Comer said PBM reform remains a priority, and his committee has received more than 40,000 pages of documents for a report that will be released "very soon." He said his panel will have another hearing once the report is release to discuss next steps.

He said those who understand the issue "realize that PBMs have actually added cost to the consumers" at a time when everyone recognizes that the rising cost of prescription drugs is not sustainable. 

Despite congressional concern about the issue, the government-funding bills just signed by President Biden do not include PBM reforms. Asked if they could pass in the "lame duck" session after the November elections, Comer, using his own committee as an example, said, "I think something can always be done before." 

Comer said much of the problem comes from three major PBMs controlling 80% of the market, noting that they are owned by health-insurance companies and have their own mail-in pharmacies. 

“I believe PBMs have had a negative impact on competition, especially among community pharmacists,” he said. “I believe they have an unfair competitive advantage. I believe they’re doing a lot of things that are unethical at best and should be illegal at worst with respect to – I would even go as far as saying extorting fees from independent pharmacies. We’re losing independent pharmacies.”

Kentucky lawmakers have been working on PBM issues for years. Most recently, in 2020, they passed a bill sponsored by Sen. Max Wise of Campbellsville, a Comer ally, that required the state to hire a single PBM for the state's Medicaid program. Before this law, each of the six companies that manage Medicaid for the state had its own PBM.  

At the White House roundtable, Beshear talked about the legislation and how he began investigating PBMs' drug-pricing methods when he was attorney general in 2016-19.

“That single PBM that answered to us, and not to any other company, has allowed Kentucky Medicaid to maximize drug rebates and has saved our Kentucky families about $300 million since we've done it,” he said. “And it allowed us to understand more about how to get the right price.”

Kentucky PBM reform efforts are ongoing

Wise's latest PBM reform measure is Senate Bill 188, which involves PBM reform efforts on the commercial market.  

State Sen. Max Wise

“I’m optimistic this measure will yield similar savings by applying the same standards to the commercial market, effectively cutting costs for Kentuckians with private health insurance plans,” Wise said in a Feb. 8 news release about the bill.  

SB 188 "aims to empower citizens to choose where they purchase their medication, prevent further closures of community pharmacies and ensure fair reimbursement rates for these essential health care providers," said the release.  

SB 188 has been assigned to the Banking and Insurance Committee. It has not yet been heard or voted on in committee, but has received its first reading, an indication that it has a chance for passage. 

Another bill that addresses PBMs passed out of the House Health Services Committee on March 7. House Bill 190, sponsored by Rep. Scott Sharp, R-Ashland, was approved unanimously and was placed in the House for possioble action as early as Monday, March 11. 

State Rep. Scott Sharp

HB 190, as amended by a committee substitute, would allow people to receive their medication directly from the mail, but if it does not get there in time, they would have the option to purchase it from their local pharmacy at the same price it would cost if it was mailed to them.  

Sharp said he was prompted to file this bill because of a personal experience. 

He said he went to his local pharmacist to get a drug for a family member who was having some trouble getting it delivered. He said he was told it would cost $400, instead of the $36 it would cost if it came by mal. 

Upon talking to his PBM, he learned that this was the "penalty" for using his local pharmacy, instead of getting it mailed direct. Since, he said he's learned that this is a common problem and that's why he wants to "fix it."