A national coalition of consumers, businesses and community-based pharmacists says the merger of pharmacy benefit management giants Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions would put too much power into the hands of a consolidated PBM, and could threaten patient access to equal and affordable access to health care.
Former North Carolina Congresswoman Eva M. Clayton will chair the coaltion, called the Preserve Community Pharmacy Access NOW! (PCPAN).
The group will also include the PA Pharmacists Association, the PA Breast Cancer Coalition.
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Express Scripts and Medco announced their deal, worth $29.1 billion in cash and stock, in July. According to the Associated Press, combined, "they handled more than 1.7 billion prescriptions in 2010 and reported almost $110 billion in revenue. The new Express Scripts Holding Inc. could use its size to negotiate bigger discounts on drug prices, although it would also have less competition than Medco and Express Scripts individually."
PCPAN argues PBM companies, which serve as middlemen between corporations or insurance companies and patients already wield a one-sided advantage in setting prescription medicine contract and reimbursement terms for community-based pharmacies.
The consolidated PBM that would result from a successful merger would "control a large share of the supply line of brand-name and generic drugs, especially in markets where the PBMs are already highly concentrated, thereby raising the prices of prescription medications and leaving employer health care plans and patients with few remedies outside of absorbing the cost increases."
This could create an "un-welcomed and dangerous precedent for health care and pharmacy access."
"With a growing population competing for access to limited resources, patients face enough challenges today in terms of receiving equal and affordable access to quality health care — this is particularly true for lower-income and minority Americans," Clayton said.
"Combining two of the largest PBMs would put quality care even further from reach by raising prices and standing in the way of a patient's access to their trusted community pharmacist. This simply is not in the best interests of patients, employers or health care in America, and I hope that the Federal Trade Commission and Congress will consider the potential impact and stand up for patients by opposing the merger."
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