Mississippi House kills pharmacy benefit manager reform; speaker urges special session

The Mississippi House on Thursday declined to advance the Senate’s versions of the last remaining pharmacy benefit manager reform bill, effectively killing the measure before lawmakers reached a compromise, the House said.

House Speaker Jason White blamed the bill’s failure on the Senate’s inclusion of language mandating a dispensing fee and asked Republican Gov. Tate Reeves to call a special session, White wrote on social media. White declined to answer reporters’ questions after the House adjourned, according to Mississippi Today.

Sen. Rita Parks, R-Corinth, who spearheaded the Senate effort, called the outcome “so disappointing” and said in a statement that the fight reflected power dynamics more than policy. Independent pharmacists and advocates have argued for greater transparency and higher reimbursements, warning that low payments by pharmacy benefit managers have put some pharmacies at risk, according to statements from pharmacy groups and pharmacists quoted by Mississippi Today.

Rep. Hank Zuber’s House Bill 1665 would have moved regulation of pharmacy benefit managers to the Commissioner of Insurance. Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney told Mississippi Today the agency would regulate the industry if it were given the staff and funding. The Senate’s version, authored by Parks, would have kept oversight with the Board of Pharmacy and added a provision requiring pharmacy benefit managers to reimburse pharmacists at least as much as an affiliate pharmacy or the Mississippi Division of Medicaid, which pays a dispensing fee.

Opponents, including Sen. Jeremy England, R-Vancleave, argued the Senate language would raise prescription and insurance costs and presented a Legislative Budget Office memo estimating a $34 million cost to the State Health Plan. A memo from the Trump administration dated March 18 urged further negotiations on the bill to remove a provision that could affect TrumpRx, a federal drug discount program, the memo said. White said Reeves indicated he would be unlikely to sign the Senate’s version into law and called for continued talks or a special session. Parks said the effort to regulate pharmacy benefit managers will continue.

Source: Original Article