How Pharmacy Benefit Managers, Impact Taxpayers and Government Spending

The National Taxpayers Union (NTU) reviews what Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBM) do and how they make money in today’s healthcare system. This report analyzes the six taxpayer-friendly PBM reform policies that might work at the federal level and those that won’t work at the federal level.

The paper also includes four appendices of potential value to readers – pharmaceutical spending and the pharmaceutical supply chain in context; history of the PBM industry from the 1960s to the present; how industry disruptors and public-private partnerships may provide more impactful and effective PBM reform in the future than anything contemplated by Congress, federal regulators, or the courts; and overview of recent state-based PBM reforms.