{"id":146880,"date":"2025-03-21T02:37:55","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T02:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/alabama\/senate-committee-approves-bill-regulating-pbms-protecting-local-pharmacies\/"},"modified":"2025-03-21T02:37:55","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T02:37:55","slug":"senate-committee-approves-bill-regulating-pbms-protecting-local-pharmacies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880","title":{"rendered":"Senate committee approves bill regulating PBMs, protecting local pharmacies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Increased regulation on pharmacy benefit managers appears to be on the way.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Senate Banking and Finance Committee on Wednesday approved the latest version of a bill seeking to impose some form of regulations on PBMs \u2013 the middle-men companies between major pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies \u2013 and protect independent pharmacies around the state.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">That bill, SB252, which has 28 co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle, including Senate leadership, would restrict PBMs from reimbursing pharmacies less than Medicaid rates for a period of two years, prohibit fees and other miscellaneous charges imposed on pharmacies, forbid restrictions on pharmacies informing consumers of pricing and alternative medicines and mandate that 100 percent of rebates offered by manufacturers be passed on to the pharmacies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cOur independent pharmacies are dying and we can\u2019t afford to sit back and do nothing,\u201d said Sen. Billy Beasley, the bill\u2019s primary sponsor and a pharmacist. \u201cWe\u2019ve lost three drug stores this month because they didn\u2019t have enough money in the bank to pay their wholesalers. We\u2019ve lost over 50 drug stores this year in the state of Alabama.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The issue, which has been the focus of numerous committee hearings and various pieces of legislation over the last two years, is fairly obvious price manipulation by PBMs, which often leave independent pharmacies either paying more for medications than they\u2019re reimbursed or simply refusing business. The intent of that practice, several pharmacists have told legislators in public hearings, is to push business to the PBM-owned pharmacies or their preferred pharmacies, resulting in higher revenue for the PBMs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">No one at Wednesday\u2019s public hearing, which was again a packed crowd, spoke in favor of the PBMs or their business practices. But several opponents to SB252 did take issue with the manner in which the bill went about protecting the pharmacies, and they indicated that the burden imposed by the bill would not fall on PBMs, but on employers around the state.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Business Council of Alabama President Helena Duncan said her organization, which represents some of the state\u2019s top employers, found the solution to be unfair to many Alabama businesses and said BCA had offered a number of suggestions to better address the problem without imposing undue burdens on those employers.\u00a0<\/span><\/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><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cShifting the burden from pharmacies to Alabama employers is fundamentally unfair,\u201d Duncan said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A spokeswoman for Manufacture Alabama also spoke against certain provisions in the bill, asking that lawmakers at least offer a period of time for businesses to make adjustments and prepare for the changes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Several opponents predicted that the costs would ultimately be shouldered by consumers, in one way or another.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">But proponents said the unfair practices \u2013 to the point that PBMs even denied pharmacists the right to tell patients why they couldn\u2019t stock their medications or inform them of cheaper or better options elsewhere \u2013 have to be addressed and some form of limitations must be placed on PBMs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cPharmacies like ours is in trouble, not because of competition or innovations or lack of business, but because of corporate greed,\u201d said Joe Burns, a third-generation pharmacist from Tarrant. He said the recent closure of a local Walgreens meant hundreds of customers were looking for a new pharmacy \u2013 ordinarily a great situation for a local pharmacy. But under current conditions, Burns said he was hesitant because the extra business, and the potential to be trapped into dispensing medication for which he received less reimbursement than he paid, actually could put him out of business.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWhen businesses stop chasing customers, you know there\u2019s a problem,\u201d he said. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 -->\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Increased regulation on pharmacy benefit managers appears to be on the way.\u00a0 The Senate Banking and Finance Committee on Wednesday approved the latest version of a bill seeking to impose some form of regulations on PBMs \u2013 the middle-men companies between major pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies \u2013 and protect independent pharmacies around the state.\u00a0 That [&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":[33526,18212,6795,13710,13747,46488,46489,46490,61809,4377,26846,21482],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-146880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alabama","tag-2025-legislative-session","tag-approves","tag-bill","tag-committee","tag-local","tag-pbms","tag-pharmacies","tag-pharmacy-benefit-managers","tag-prescription-costs","tag-protecting","tag-regulating","tag-senate"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Senate committee approves bill regulating PBMs, protecting local pharmacies - 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=146880\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Senate committee approves bill regulating PBMs, protecting local pharmacies - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Increased regulation on pharmacy benefit managers appears to be on the way.\u00a0 The Senate Banking and Finance Committee on Wednesday approved the latest version of a bill seeking to impose some form of regulations on PBMs \u2013 the middle-men companies between major pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies \u2013 and protect independent pharmacies around the state.\u00a0 That [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-21T02:37:55+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=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"Senate committee approves bill regulating PBMs, protecting local pharmacies\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-21T02:37:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880\"},\"wordCount\":608,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/AdobeStock_595766274-scaled-e1724329334349.webp.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"2025 Legislative Session\",\"Approves\",\"Bill\",\"Committee\",\"local\",\"PBMs\",\"pharmacies\",\"pharmacy benefit managers\",\"Prescription costs\",\"Protecting\",\"Regulating\",\"Senate\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Alabama\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880\",\"name\":\"Senate committee approves bill regulating PBMs, protecting local pharmacies - Som2ny Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/AdobeStock_595766274-scaled-e1724329334349.webp.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-21T02:37:55+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/AdobeStock_595766274-scaled-e1724329334349.webp.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/AdobeStock_595766274-scaled-e1724329334349.webp.webp\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1437},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Senate committee approves bill regulating PBMs, protecting local pharmacies\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"description\":\"Daily Deals\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":86,\"caption\":\"Som2ny Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Senate committee approves bill regulating PBMs, protecting local pharmacies - Som2ny Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Senate committee approves bill regulating PBMs, protecting local pharmacies - Som2ny Network","og_description":"Increased regulation on pharmacy benefit managers appears to be on the way.\u00a0 The Senate Banking and Finance Committee on Wednesday approved the latest version of a bill seeking to impose some form of regulations on PBMs \u2013 the middle-men companies between major pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies \u2013 and protect independent pharmacies around the state.\u00a0 That [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880","og_site_name":"Som2ny Network","article_published_time":"2025-03-21T02:37:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1437,"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/AdobeStock_595766274-scaled-e1724329334349.webp.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371"},"headline":"Senate committee approves bill regulating PBMs, protecting local pharmacies","datePublished":"2025-03-21T02:37:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880"},"wordCount":608,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/AdobeStock_595766274-scaled-e1724329334349.webp.webp","keywords":["2025 Legislative Session","Approves","Bill","Committee","local","PBMs","pharmacies","pharmacy benefit managers","Prescription costs","Protecting","Regulating","Senate"],"articleSection":["Alabama"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880","name":"Senate committee approves bill regulating PBMs, protecting local pharmacies - Som2ny Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/AdobeStock_595766274-scaled-e1724329334349.webp.webp","datePublished":"2025-03-21T02:37:55+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/AdobeStock_595766274-scaled-e1724329334349.webp.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/AdobeStock_595766274-scaled-e1724329334349.webp.webp","width":2560,"height":1437},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=146880#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Senate committee approves bill regulating PBMs, protecting local pharmacies"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","name":"Som2ny Network","description":"Daily Deals","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization","name":"Som2ny Network","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","width":300,"height":86,"caption":"Som2ny Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/fivemor.com"],"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=146880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/145596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=146880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=146880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=146880"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fdealstore&post=146880"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fofferexpiration&post=146880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}