At Finance Hearing, Brown Blasts Healthcare CEO over PBM Practices that Put Local Ohio Pharmacies Out of Business

WASHINGTON, D.C. - At a Senate Finance Committee hearing yesterday, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) blasted UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty over the role that Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) play in driving up costs for families, imposing punitive direct and indirect renumeration (DIR) fees on pharmacies, and the significant role PBMs play in the closure of local pharmacies across Ohio. UnitedHealth Group owns OptumRx, a massive corporate middleman PBM that accounts for nearly a quarter of all prescription drug claims in the U.S.

Brown cited research and conversations with Ohio pharmacists that make it clear PBM practices are contributing to local pharmacy closures, and asked Mr. Witty, "Do you acknowledge that PBMs play a significant role in some of those closures?"

Mr. Witty refused to take responsibility for PBMs' harmful practices, responding, "I don't. I don't necessarily believe that to be the case. I think the PBMs provide a very significant service in a variety of support to clients who are looking for."

Brown debunked Mr. Witty's claims, responding, "It's clear that DIR fees contribute to local pharmacy closures. As I said, I just met with two Ohio pharmacists last week, forced to close their stores."

Brown continued, "It's clear that PBMs, that your PBM your company owns, is making massive amounts of money, you know that. And I assume you've probably bragged about that. Last year, PBMs reported revenues of $116 billion. So, it's pretty clear you could lower or eliminate those fees and still be making plenty of money."

Brown has long taken the lead in efforts to lower drug costs for seniors by addressing abusive PBM practices and eliminate these PBM fees that put local pharmacies out of business. Following Brown's urging, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) now requires PBMs to assess fees at the point of sale to eliminate the retroactive nature of these claw back fees. While pharmacies and patients can now see these fees up front, Brown continues to fight for his bipartisan legislation to lower out-of-pocket costs of medicines for chronic conditions by requiring PBMs and insurers to pass on all savings they negotiate on the list price of a chronic condition drug to the patient at the pharmacy counter. In March 2023, Brown pushed for reform of PBM practices that lead to high drug prices for patients and high fees for Ohio pharmacies. And sections of Brown's bill on DIR reform and to lower costs for older Ohioans were included in legislation passed out of the Senate Finance Committee on July 26, 2023.

In the Inflation Reduction Act, Brown successfully pushed for provisionsto allow Medicare to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies and take on Big Pharma to lower health care and prescription drug costs for Ohioans. Brown also successfully ensured that companies that increase their prices faster than inflation are required to pay a rebate to lower costs for patients and taxpayers. In 2025, the law will also cap out-of-pocket drug costs in Medicare at $2,000.

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