FYI ... October 20, 2023

Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) Reform

Patients with multiple chronic diseases often spend 5-10 times more than others on their prescription drugs. Congress can lower costs for these patients by passing PBM reform that would close the loophole that allows #PBMs to intercept the discounts that drugmakers intend for patients. For more information click the link https://www.fightchronicdisease.org/.../PFCD%20...

Here is a brief background on PBMs impact on patients with chronic conditions:

Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) operate as an intermediary between drugmakers and insurers in the pharmaceutical supply chain. These middlemen corporations determine which prescription drugs will be covered by insurance plans and how much patients pay out-of-pocket. Drug manufacturers offer rebates on medications to the PBMs that are intended to be passed along to patients. Instead, PBMs often keep the savings.

This practice has had disastrous results for patients, especially those who suffer from chronic conditions. Brand name drugs currently receive an average rebate of 26%, but patients don’t see that discount at the pharmacy counter. What’s more, higher out-of-pocket costs lead to poorer medication adherence, which often leads to negative health outcomes. The situation is worse for individuals with multiple chronic conditions, who pay as much as 10 times more on prescription drugs as a result of these PBM practices.

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FYI ... October 2023

* Attn: Healthcare & Lobbying Reporters *

AARP’s 2022 Financials Reveal Over $1.1 Billion in Annual Corporate Royalty Payments

Mostly From a Single Health Insurance Conglomerate: UnitedHealth Group Washington, D.C. — October 16, 2023 — AARP’s 2022 financial disclosures revealed that the “seniors advocacy organization” was paid more than $1.1 billion in corporate royalties last year. Based on historical analysis and assumptions, most of those funds are likely attributable to a single company, Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group (UHG). UHG is one of the nation’s largest health insurance and pharmacy benefit management (PBM) corporations. Its vast subsidiary businesses also include primary and urgent care practices, home health services, specialty pharmacies, health IT companies and more.

AARP set records with corporate royalty payments exceeding $1 billion in each of the last two years. Meanwhile, AARP saw a further decline in membership dues in 2022, similar to the previous year. These figures were released soon after the one-year anniversary of the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which made significant changes to the nation’s Medicare program. Many critics continue to view the IRA as a potential windfall for big insurer-PBMs such as UnitedHealth Group, given new price control measures and unrelated insurance subsidies funded from the bill’s projected Medicare drug savings.

As part of its Commitment to Seniors initiative, American Commitment has worked to highlight the AARP’s financial conflict of interests with big health insurer-PBMs generally and UHG specifically. Recent examples include not only AARP’s support and 60 million dollar campaign to pass the highly politicized IRA, but also its reluctance to advocate visibly for bipartisan PBM and copay reforms to prevent big insurer-PBMs from pocketing rebates and discounts meant for Medicare patients. The IRA not only diverted billions in funds intended for Medicare to unrelated spending; it prioritized those special interest programs before most of the IRA’s drug provisions were to be implemented for seniors in Medicare.

“AARP’s annual billion-dollar haul of corporate royalties is their lifeblood, and the reason AARP prioritizes the agenda of health insurance giant UnitedHealth and its PBM division OptumRx, over the interests of its membership and seniors across the country,” stated Phil Kerpen, President of American Commitment. “These latest financials prove once again exactly why AARP was the #1 cheerleader for the so-called Inflation Reduction Act. That misnamed bill has done little to nothing to lower costs for most seniors – but it did divert billions from Medicare to fund unrelated spending like green energy subsidies and supersized Obamacare subsidies to big insurers like UnitedHealth.”

“Meanwhile, on other critical debates in which UnitedHealth’s business practices are being called into question – like bipartisan PBM reforms or questions over billions in overcharges to Medicare – AARP is missing in action. No TV ads, no grassroots campaigns, literally nothing. It’s clear who AARP truly advocates for these days, and it’s not seniors,” continued Kerpen.

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American Commitment is dedicated to restoring and protecting our nation’s commitment to free markets, economic growth, Constitutionally-limited government, property rights, and individual freedom. American Commitment engages in critical public policy fights over the size and intrusiveness of government through direct advocacy, strategic policy analysis, and grassroots mobilization. Visit us online at www.AmericanCommitment.org.

Here is a link to the press release that was blasted to relevant healthcare and lobbying reporters recently.

Also, are the financial overview with numbers and assumptions for AARP’s 2022 financial disclosures (see below).

https://twitter.com/commit2sen.../status/1713917720754802842

https://twitter.com/commit2sen.../status/1713932817745207311