Have Lawmakers Found A Back Door To Extending Their Covid Tyranny?
Recent Senate conversations about “transparency” when it comes to drug pricing have caused considerable confusion among the American public. On one hand, transparency is generally supported by everyone as a means of promoting trustworthiness and accountability within our healthcare system. However, given the inclination of bureaucrats and politicians to use euphemisms to conceal more sinister agendas, it is crucial that we investigate it further.
The “PBM Transparency Act” or S.127, is at the root of this matter. According to the bill, it seeks to implement more rigorous reporting standards and greater oversight of “pharmacy benefit managers” or PBMs, who are obscure entities within our medical system. PBMs work with Medicare, health insurance companies, unions, and both large and small businesses, negotiating with drug wholesalers in order to reduce drug prices. According to one estimate, PBMs save the average American about $1,000 per year.
While this might appear to be an excellent thing, big pharma lobbyists and drug wholesalers would likely object to it. They are concerned that PBMs are reducing their profit margins. The Federal Trade Commission, under Joe Biden’s administration, is also a willing accomplice. Pharmaceutical manufacturers were the largest lobbyist spenders last year, with reports suggesting that they spent a staggering $284 million to influence policymakers, which is over 70 percent more than the second-largest industry.
Like most bills, this one was drafted by and for special interests, in this scenario, the wealthy individuals who make billions by overpricing drugs to Americans while people in other countries get them for significantly less. If the bill only focused on this issue, ordinary individuals would likely forget about wasting money and enriching the wealthy. However, the real stakes may be far higher. The bill’s provisions seem to allow the Federal Trade Commission, Government Accountability Office, and potentially state attorneys general unprecedented access to medical records and information.
Section 6(b)(1), for example, states, “If the attorney general of a State has reason to believe that an interest of the residents of the State has been or is being threatened or adversely affected by a practice that violates this Act, the attorney general may bring a civil action on behalf of the residents of the State in an appropriate district court of the United States to obtain appropriate relief.” As a result, a PBM would bear the burden of an “affirmative defense,” meaning that it, as the “defendant,” must establish its innocence.
The potential risk stems from the fact that federal or state officials may determine that they need patient-level data on pharmaceutical prescriptions to enforce the PBM Transparency Act. This data includes the names of patients taking specific drugs. The lack of language in the legislation that covers such an eventuality is concerning, and Covid vaccines would inevitably be part of the conversation. As the Covid-19 health emergency concludes in May, more Americans will utilize their health insurance to cover Covid vaccinations.
We must not forget that, until recently, the Biden administration, with the healthcare industry’s assistance, attempted to force Americans into receiving the Covid vaccination. They even ordered the harassment of recalcitrant, selfish “anti-vaxxers,” excluding them from education and employment, and treating them as second-class citizens. Only when the Supreme Court intervened did the Covid tyrants abandon most of these unfair and un-American positions.
Therefore, as the PBM Transparency Act moves through the Senate, we must question whether something more essential than increasing drug manufacturers’ profits is occurring. Americans must remain vigilant about this bill, and they should request that their Senators: 1) provide credible reasons for why cracking down on PBMs is necessary in the first place, 2) protect patient privacy and prevent enforcing the Covid vaccine mandate on anyone, and 3) clarify the amount of compensation they obtained from the pharmaceutical industry and how their agenda correlates with that of Big Pharma.
Instead of placing PBMs and everyday Americans under scrutiny, let us demand that our Senators, and their lobbyist pals, become more transparent. That would be a welcome change.
