Many small town drugstores across the nation are reportedly being put out of business due to “health care middlemen,” according to thepharmacy benefit managers are causing the issue, noting employers and government programs hire PBMs “to oversee prescription drug benefits.”The pattern is benefiting the largest P.B.M.s, whose parent companies run their own competing pharmacies.
Pharmacies buy those drugs from wholesalers, in the hope that P.B.M.s will reimburse them at a profit when the medications are provided to patients. But the largest benefit managers have strong incentives to set those rates as low as possible. A key reason: They make money in part by charging employers more for certain drugs than what the P.B.M.s pay pharmacies for them.in September.
“List prices are what a drugmaker initially sets for a product and what people who have no insurance or plans with high deductibles are sometimes stuck paying for prescriptions,” it noted.rural pharmacies are important to communities across the nation. However, their owners say they are having difficulty staying open to serve their neighbors.