Des Moines, Iowa (RI) — A federal judge has temporarily blocked parts of a new state law regulating pharmacy benefit managers — the PBMs that negotiate prescription drug prices — but only for businesses that joined in a lawsuit challenging the law.
The law does several things, like requiring a nearly 11-dollar fee for every prescription filled. The Iowa Pharmacy Association says that will help independent and rural pharmacies that PBMs are forcing to fill prescriptions at a loss. Critics say the law will escalate costs for companies that provide prescription drug benefits.
The Iowa Association of Business and Industry, the benefit plan for the Iowa Bankers Association, Des Moines Orthopedic Surgeons, Iowa Spring Manufacturing in Adel and a health and welfare fund for union members sued — and those groups will not have to follow parts of the law the judge put on hold while the case makes its way through the courts.
The federal judge’s ruling says the law likely crosses constitutional lines in multiple ways — like suppressing the First Amendment rights of companies to tell their employees which pharmacies offer the best price for medications.
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