Senators Pull Few Punches at PBM Execs During Insulin-Cost Hearing
During a May 10 hearing held by a key Senate committee — one day before that same committee advanced a PBM reform bill — politicians laid blame at the feet of both PBMs and drugmakers for the fact that high out-of-pocket costs for insulin and other medications have kept many Americans from accessing lifesaving therapies. But it was PBMs that received the sharpest criticism — including some memorable comments from Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.).
“I kind of feel like hell’s freezing over because Chairman [Bernie] Sanders and I actually agree on something, and it’s that something needs to be done with PBMs,” Mullin said during the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing titled “The Need to Make Insulin Affordable for All Americans.”