From October 26, 2022 post.
The curtain has been pulled back on Pharmacy Benefit Mangers’ (PBMs) harmful business practices, which leave patients scrambling to afford necessary treatments, cause independent pharmacies to shut their doors, and ignore medical professionals’ expertise. This results in burdensome delays, expensive medications, and poorer health outcomes for patients.
In case you missed it, Rep. Buddy Carter released a report on PBM abuses, complete with patient testimonials highlighting the ways these middlemen have negatively influenced their health. Here are the highlights:
Yuri: "How are we supposed to live with a decent quality of life when the very structures to help are set up to hurt us?"
Angela: "It's a person behind the computer making your life difficult, not your, or in my case my, paralyzed stomach."
Grace: "Traumatic, I think that doesn't really scratch the surface, truly, once you've lived through it, or watched a love one go through it."
Kate: "I have the least rare of the most rare diseases, and it took up until this past decade for those to be approved therapies."
Kami: "If there are medications out there that would help me get my independence back, then I should be able to have access to those."
Nisha: "I wouldn't say [PBMs] have helped me at all. In fact, I would say step therapy has been a hinderance."
Elisa: "Sometimes dealing with the admin side of sick is worse than the disease itself."
Watch the full video here.
Original source can be found here.
