New poll shows strong bipartisan support for PBM reform

Big health insurance companies and their pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) game the health care system at patients’ expense. They place barriers between patients and  medicines, ultimately driving up patient costs while insurers and PBMs line their own pockets. 

New Morning Consult/PhRMA polling finds strong bipartisan support for holding middlemen accountable. Data show:

• 74% of voters believe health insurers and their PBMs should pass the rebates and discounts they receive directly to patients, so no patient pays more for their medicines than their insurer.
  
  
• 72% of voters believe pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) should receive a fixed fee for their services, instead of charging fees tied to the price of medicines.
  
  
• 71% of voters support requiring health insurance companies and PBMs to count patient assistance, such as copay coupons and cost sharing assistance, toward the patient’s deductible.
  
  
• 68% of voters support ending the financial incentives that can encourage health insurance companies and their PBMs to cover higher priced medicines rather than low-cost alternatives. 

Voters want to see policy solutions that lower their costs by reforming the PBM system and holding middlemen accountable.

To learn more about this poll, click here and for more on role of PBMs on patient access to medicines, visit phrma.org/middlemen.