Online Pitfall Reports
	Study finds PBMs conflict of interest will add more than $14.5 billion to medicare drug benefit costs
	Mail-order divisions on the cost of prescription health insurance benefits

Pharmacy Benefit Managers: Look who actually benefits most

Most health plan sponsors – employers, HMOs, insurance carriers and others – provide a prescription benefit as part of overall health insurance coverage. Because of the increasing size and complexity of pharmacy benefits, many plan sponsors contract with companies known as Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) to administer the process for them.

PBMs are third-party administrators of prescription drug benefits. They handle such administrative tasks as collecting funds from health plan sponsors and using those funds to pay providers, processing claims; answering questions posed by pharmacists, doctors and health plan participants; and negotiating with drug companies. They operate mail-order pharmacies which they force an increasing number of plan participants to use. PBMs have become a dominant, rapidly growing force in the pharmacy industry.

Full Story