Two state lawmakers say they want to keep more neighborhood pharmacies in business by tightening regulations on drug pricing managers. State Representatives Jessica Benham and Valerie Gaydos have introduced a measure to establish the state’s Insurance Department as an overseer of pharmacy benefit managers. They are people serve as intermediaries between pharmacies, drug makers and insurers to create a list of preferred drugs for policy holders and to set their costs for patients. The lawmakers call pharmacy benefit managers “shadowy middlemen” who unfairly direct consumers to big drug companies.
