Wyden and Crapo. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden and Ranking Member Mike Crapo are making a late push to include PBM reforms in the next government funding package.
Why it matters: Proposed changes to PBM business practices have been a bipartisan rallying point, but divisions over whether to apply them to the private insurance market or just to Medicare kept any changes out of the first minibus.
Driving the news: Wyden and Crapo will hold a press conference Thursday in which they're expected to call for action on PBMs with the second government funding package facing a March 22 deadline, sources said.
- The Finance Committee previously advanced a package that would have changed the way PBMs are paid in Medicare, by no longer tying compensation to the price of drugs.
- It is unclear if Wyden and Crapo will explicitly call for including the measures in the next minibus, but the timing of the press conference indicates that is their hope.
Reality check: The effort still faces big hurdles and any final product would need sign offs from the Senate HELP Committee and the House.
