Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios
Senate Finance Committee leaders Ron Wyden and Mike Crapo released the text of their PBM bill at the end of September, so Axios caught up with Wyden to talk about next steps and odds of getting across the finish line.
Driving the news: Asked about folding the measure into an end-of-year package, Wyden told Axios: "We're going to pull out all the stops to pass it. I've talked about it with Leader Schumer on many occasions."
What's next: Beyond the policies already in the bill, which center on "delinking" PBM compensation from the price of a drug, we obtained a letter from Wyden and Crapo to the Congressional Budget Office laying out additional provisions that could be added to the bill.
- The letter is from July, but these policies are still on the table. They include pushing back on PBMs' practice of steering patients to pharmacies they own, new reporting requirements on PBM-owned pharmacies and efforts to increase access to low-cost biosimilars and generic drugs.
Between the lines: The Finance bill is just a start, because leadership will likely have to pick and choose among its provisions and those in PBM bills from the HELP and Commerce Committees, not to mention the House.
- But the projected savings on the table will be attractive options as Congress looks to pay for items like community health centers. The CBO found the Finance bill would save about $1.7 billion over 10 years.
- Wyden downplayed the differences between the different committees. "All of the committee bills on PBMs are moving in the same direction," he said.
