{"id":145595,"date":"2025-03-20T11:39:25","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T11:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/alabama\/riley-gaines-trump-push-national-pbm-reform-as-alabama-debates-state-bills\/"},"modified":"2025-03-20T11:39:25","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T11:39:25","slug":"riley-gaines-trump-push-national-pbm-reform-as-alabama-debates-state-bills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=145595","title":{"rendered":"Riley Gaines, Trump push national PBM reform as Alabama debates state bills"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Alabama lawmakers are considering competing legislation aimed at reforming the role of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), as pressure mounts for federal action to address what many see as a nationwide crisis driving up drug costs and forcing independent pharmacies to close.<\/p>\n<p>Athlete and activist Riley Gaines recently weighed in on the issue, criticizing Alabama\u2019s proposed prescription tax in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Riley_Gaines_\/status\/1902004297916612683\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">post on X<\/a>. \u201cThe Alabama Legislature is pushing a prescription tax that will pad Big Pharma\u2019s pockets while costing consumers and businesses millions,\u201d Gaines wrote. \u201cInstead of letting President Trump and RFK hold Big Pharma accountable, these so-called \u2018Republicans\u2019 are doing their bidding.\u201d Her remarks echo growing frustration among business owners and advocates who argue that PBM practices are hurting patients and local economies.<\/p>\n<p>In Alabama, lawmakers are weighing two different approaches. Senate Bill 93, sponsored by Sen. Andrew Jones, would prohibit PBMs from reimbursing pharmacies below actual drug acquisition costs, ban hidden fees, and allow pharmacists to refuse prescriptions that would leave them operating at a loss. Senate Bill 99, introduced by Sen. Larry Stutts, goes further, adding a mandated dispensing fee and requiring reimbursement rates based on national average drug acquisition costs.<\/p>\n<p>The legislation comes as independent pharmacies across the state continue to close. According to the Alabama Pharmacy Association, 36 community pharmacies closed in 2024, and nine more have already shut down this year. Pharmacy owners blame PBM reimbursement practices and administrative burdens that make it impossible to stay afloat.<\/p>\n<p>While state lawmakers try to address the issue, calls are growing for a national solution. President Donald Trump has made PBM reform a priority for his administration, saying during a recent event: \u201cWe\u2019re going to knock out the middleman. We\u2019re going to get drug costs down at levels that nobody has ever seen before.\u201d He added, \u201cThe horrible middleman that makes more money, frankly, than the drug companies \u2014 and they don\u2019t do anything except they\u2019re a middleman \u2014 we\u2019re going to end that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Capitol Hill, bipartisan efforts are also taking shape. The Patients Before Monopolies Act, introduced by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Josh Hawley, would ban insurance companies from owning both PBMs and pharmacies, a practice critics say fuels conflicts of interest and anti-competitive behavior.<\/p>\n<p>With pharmacies closing, prices rising, and consumers caught in the middle, momentum is building for comprehensive federal reform. While Alabama lawmakers debate their next move, the solution may ultimately come from Washington, where both political pressure and public demand are making PBM reform a priority.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-6\" style=\"margin: 8px auto; text-align: center; display: block; clear: both;\">\n<div class=\"zox-post-ad-wrap\"><span class=\"zox-ad-label\">Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 -->\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alabama lawmakers are considering competing legislation aimed at reforming the role of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), as pressure mounts for federal action to address what many see as a nationwide crisis driving up drug costs and forcing independent pharmacies to close. Athlete and activist Riley Gaines recently weighed in on the issue, criticizing Alabama\u2019s proposed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11763],"tags":[12750,10952,61399,61397,5306,61398,61396,46489,46490,5850,13460,15712,5296,1175],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-145595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alabama","tag-alabama","tag-bills","tag-debates","tag-gaines","tag-national","tag-pbm","tag-pbm-reform","tag-pharmacies","tag-pharmacy-benefit-managers","tag-push","tag-reform","tag-riley","tag-state","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Riley Gaines, Trump push national PBM reform as Alabama debates state bills - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=145595\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Riley Gaines, Trump push national PBM reform as Alabama debates state bills - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Alabama lawmakers are considering competing legislation aimed at reforming the role of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), as pressure mounts for federal action to address what many see as a nationwide crisis driving up drug costs and forcing independent pharmacies to close. Athlete and activist Riley Gaines recently weighed in on the issue, criticizing Alabama\u2019s proposed [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=145595\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-20T11:39:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/AdobeStock_595766274-scaled-e1724329334349.webp.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1437\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=145595#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=145595\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"Riley Gaines, Trump push national PBM reform as Alabama debates state bills\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-20T11:39:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=145595\"},\"wordCount\":434,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=145595#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/AdobeStock_595766274-scaled-e1724329334349.webp.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Alabama\",\"bills\",\"debates\",\"Gaines\",\"National\",\"PBM\",\"PBM reform\",\"pharmacies\",\"pharmacy benefit managers\",\"Push\",\"Reform\",\"Riley\",\"State\",\"Trump\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Alabama\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=145595#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=145595\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=145595\",\"name\":\"Riley Gaines, Trump push national PBM reform as Alabama debates state bills - 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