EDITORIAL: Senators should press Kennedy on the House Judiciary Report on PBMs
When Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. returns to Capitol Hill this week for another round of oversight hearings Senators should ask whether healthcare programs are ensuring taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely and in the interests of taxpayers.
And the best way for Senators to do that is to focus on the work that has already been done to hold giant healthcare companies accountable.
In January, the House Judiciary Committee released an interim staff report titled “When CVS Writes the Rules,” which concluded based on internal company documents that CVS may have violated federal antitrust laws by pressuring independent pharmacies not to work with rival digital “hub” platforms that help patients access medications more affordably.
The committee found that CVS changed its provider manual and deployed audits and cease-and-desist letters to keep independents out of competing hubs, reversing course only after the investigation began. CVS has disputed the report’s findings.
Senators should ask pointed questions: When does a pattern of enforcement actions warrant reassessment of a contractor’s standing in federal programs? How should allegations of anticompetitive conduct factor into contracting decisions? And is HHS prepared to take a closer look at CVS itself?
Federal healthcare programs spend hundreds of billions of dollars annually, and the Government business is now the central driver of CVS’s growth. Ensuring those funds support competition, protect independent providers, and serve patients rather than entrenched middlemen is a core responsibility of government.
Governor Sarah Sanders of Arkansas has been a leader in holding PBM’s accountable, and Arkansas has passed sone of the strongest legislation in the U.S. to prevent anti-competitive behavior from harming patients and raising prices. Governor Sanders’s leadership on PBMs has been praised on a bipartisan basis, and Senators should follow her lead.
Secretary Kennedy has emphasized accountability in healthcare. These hearings are a chance to see what that means in practice.
Senators should take it, and ask direct questions about the House Judiciary Report on CVS.
