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Senate Finance Committee PBM Reform Results In ‘Decimal Dust’ Of Savings

 
• By Sarah Karlin-Smith

A focus on transparency, impacts of vertical integration and concerns about increasing government costs shows in the Congressional Budget Office score of the Senate pharmacy benefits manager reform bill.

gold swirl of dust on black background
CBO projects relatively small savings from the Senate Finance PBM reform bill. • Source: Shutterstock

The Senate Finance Committee’s pharmacy benefits manager reform bill is anticipated to save the federal government $1.73bn over a decade, a relatively small sum given the cost of the Medicare and Medicaid programs they would modify, which illustrates the challenges of taking on drug prices by going after supply chain “middlemen.”

Key Takeaways

  • The CBO projects $1.73bn in savings from the Senate Finance Committee’s PBM reform effort.

  • The federal government spent about half a trillion on Medicare in fiscal year 2021 and $98bn on Medicare Part D that year.

  • The low score is in part a win as previous PBM reform ideas were expected to cost the government hundreds millions of dollars

The Congressional Budget Office released a preliminary score of the Modernizing and Ensuring PBM Accountability Act on 24 July ahead of a 26 July committee markup of the legislation. (Also see "Senate Finance Dives Deeper Into PBM Weeds, Including Brand Over Generic Preferences" - Pink Sheet, 17 July, 2023

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