Florida Coalition Launched to Fight Against Prescription Drug Prices

Across Florida, members of various organizations, associations, and advocacy groups have formed a new coalition to address and fight against prescription drug prices and the “pharmacy middlemen.” The name of the coalition is known as The PBM (Pharmacy Benefit Managers) Accountability Project of Florida.

According to the group, the coalition “represents leaders from Florida’s business and healthcare community, policy experts, and patient advocacy groups who share a mission to ensure patients pay no more than is absolutely necessary for medications while protecting small businesses and Floridians’ rights to make informed healthcare decisions.”

Currently, there are bills in both the State House of Representatives and the State Senate (HB 1509 and SB 1550) that address PBMs and their influence on prescription drug prices.

This past January, Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) stated that he was going to address the high cost of prescription drugs by proposing legislation to limit drug middlemen or pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), from driving up the cost of prescription drugs.

As The Floridian reported, Gov. DeSantis dropped an anvil on the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) lobby when he announced he would pursue cost-cutting legislation.

Now, that the bill is filed, pharmaceutical companies are trying to make sense of it all.

"These reforms will enhance transparency and reduce the influence of pharmacy middlemen, which will help consumers as well as our small pharmacies,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “I look forward to these reforms becoming law.”

Other than the coalition’s mission to reduce the cost of pharmaceuticals, the PBM Accountability Project of Florida looks to “educate fellow Floridians about the role PBMs play in manipulating prescription drug prices and advocate for effective solutions that benefit Florida’s businesses, taxpayers, and ultimately patients at the pharmacy counter.”

This includes promoting solutions such as requiring PBMs to report their acquisition costs of medicines as well their sources and amounts of all revenues received.

Well, it appears that solutions like those are now on paper and will make its way through the legislative process before lawmakers vote on the drug cost-cutting measure.