Pharmacy Benefit Manager Transparency Act of 2022

The Pharmacy Benefit Manager Transparency Act of 2022 aims to lower prescription drug costs by increasing oversight of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), the intermediaries that negotiate drug prices between insurance companies, pharmacies, and manufacturers. The bill would ban "spread pricing," a practice where PBMs charge health plans more for a drug than they pay the pharmacy and keep the difference as profit. It also prohibits PBMs from unfairly clawing back payments already made to pharmacies or charging arbitrary fees.

For everyday citizens, this legislation is designed to create more transparency in how drug prices are set and ensure that discounts negotiated by PBMs are passed down to the health plans and consumers. By requiring PBMs to report their pricing and fee structures to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the bill seeks to prevent deceptive practices that can lead to higher out-of-pocket costs at the pharmacy counter. Under this law, the FTC and state attorneys general would have the authority to penalize companies that engage in these prohibited financial practices.