National Poll: Voters Overwhelmingly Favor Strong PBM Reform

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Alexandria, Apr 27, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE via COMTEX) -- Alexandria, Va., April 27, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As Congress readies legislation aimed at drug prices and marketplace fairness, a new national poll released today by the National Community Pharmacists Association shows strong bipartisan support for regulating the shadowy corporate middlemen who control almost everyone's prescriptions.

"When you explain to voters the dominant role that PBMs play in the prescription drug market, and the outsized control they have over patients and their health care providers, they are very concerned. The data makes that crystal clear, and it cuts across every political and demographic group. If ever there was an opportunity for Congress to pass bipartisan reform, that time is right now," said NCPA CEO B. Douglas Hoey, pharmacist, MBA.

According to the poll, taken by Morning Consult, voters know very little or nothing at all about pharmacy benefit managers, the largest three of which control 80 percent of all prescriptions in the U.S. Eighty percent are concerned that PBMs steer patients to pharmacies they own or control to maximize their own profit. Seventy-eight percent are concerned that PBMs often require patients to use their own mail-order pharmacies instead of local pharmacies. And 80 percent are concerned that PBMs keep all or most of the discounts on drugs they negotiate instead of passing the savings on to consumers.

"The numbers are staggering. Large majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents are concerned by the PBMs' self-serving and anti-competitive practices. That's consistent across racial groups, gender groups, and age groups. PBMs have operated for decades with very little oversight, and voters in every state and congressional district know instinctively that meaningful reform is necessary," said Hoey.

The poll, conducted between April 19 and April 22, sampled 1,969 registered voters. Seventy-six percent are concerned that PBMs reimburse local pharmacies less for medicines than it costs the pharmacies to purchase and dispense them. Voters don't like that PBMs overcharge employer and taxpayer-funded programs for drugs and pocket the difference. And 80 percent are concerned that just three PBMs control 80 percent of the prescription drug market. Moreover, large majorities of voters support specific reforms that Congress can pass now.

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