CCAGW Urges House and Senate Leadership to Oppose Including Healthcare Legislation in Continuing Resolution
Letters to Officials
December 16, 2024
Speaker Mike Johnson
Speaker of the House
The Capitol
H-232
Washington, D.C. 20515
Senator John Thune
Senate Minority Whip
Dirksen Senate Office Building 511
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Speaker Johnson and Minority Whip Thune,
You will soon be considering a continuing resolution (CR) to keep government funding in place beyond December 20, 2024. On behalf of the more than one million members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), I urge you to remove certain healthcare provisions from this legislation. Without moving major healthcare legislation through regular order, there is no opportunity to hold hearings and provide transparency for the impact on the economy, patients, taxpayers, and businesses.
For example, S. 1339, the Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) Reform Act was ordered to be reported by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on May 11, 2023, and has been on the Senate Calendar since June 22, 2023. The House passed H.R. 5378, the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act, on December 13, 2023, but it was never taken up in the Senate. There is therefore no consensus on what, if any, changes to make to PBMs, and provisions related thereto should not be included in the CR.
All representatives and senators deserve the opportunity to debate these issues on the floor given the role PBMs play in delivering drug benefits to beneficiaries that drive down drug costs and improve health outcomes. Patients save more than $1,040 annually, and more than 275 million Americans rely on PBMs through their employers, including the federal government. As one example of the impact of not using PBMs, a March 31, 2023, Department of Labor (DOL) Office of Inspector General Office of Audit report found that the DOL overspent $321.3 million in a six-year span (fiscal years 2015-2020) on prescription drugs for the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act program because the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs did not use a PBM. One of the provisions that has been considered for the CR would mandate a 100 percent pass through in the commercial market, which would constitute government intrusion into the ability of employers to negotiate the provisions that best fit their needs.
Healthcare legislation that has not been voted on by the full House and Senate should be excluded from the CR. This is especially concerning when it impacts the ability of PBMs to continue lowering drug prices for patients and interferes with the private voluntary agreements between employers and PBMs.
Sincerely,
Tom Schatz
President, CCAGW