Chairman Comer Calls for PBM CEOs to Correct their Perjurious Hearing Statements

By Andrew Langer

In recent months, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) have found themselves in the spotlight, with their role in the U.S. healthcare system increasingly scrutinized by government officials and the public alike. These drug middlemen, tasked with managing prescription drug plans for health insurers, have grown into powerful players, exercising significant control over which medications patients can access and how much they pay. Unfortunately, this power is often wielded in ways that drive up costs, reduce patient choice, and distort the free market.

In July, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability held a hearing that sought to hold PBMs accountable for their harmful practices. The timing was significant, as it coincided with the release of an Oversight Committee report detailing how the three largest PBMs—CVS Caremark, Cigna Express Scripts, and UnitedHealth’s OptumRx—use their market dominance to steer patients toward higher-priced medications and engage in questionable practices such as spread pricing, which inflate costs for consumers.

The hearing provided a rare opportunity for PBM CEOs to defend their business models and their roles within the larger drug supply chain. Yet, their testimony directly contradicted the findings of the Oversight Committee and a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report. Both reports highlighted how PBMs, through vertical and horizontal integration, manipulate the market to inflate drug prices while limiting patient options. This testimony raised concerns about potential perjury, with House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) calling attention to these inconsistencies and demanding that the PBM representatives correct the record by September 11.

This hearing, and the looming deadline for the PBMs to amend their statements, underscores the critical need for continued government oversight to ensure transparency and protect the interests of patients over corporate profits. It represents a golden opportunity for Congress to expose the anti-competitive and rent-seeking behavior of PBMs. These middlemen have turned what was supposed to be a cost-saving role into a profit-maximizing enterprise, warping the healthcare market and exploiting patients. It is crucial that lawmakers use this hearing to publicize the truth about PBMs and their harmful practices.

Beyond public scrutiny, it is imperative that Congress enacts meaningful legislation to curb PBM power and restore fairness to the prescription drug market.