The AARP finds itself at the center of a scandal affecting tens of millions of seniors.
Middlemen connected to the powerful interest group are allegedly jacking up the prices of prescription medications.
Worse, the AARP opposes a White House proposal that would help seniors struggling with drug costs.
The Daily Caller’s Evie Fordham reports:
Right now, these middleman organizations, called pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), are protected by safe harbor provisions from certain parts of the Anti-Kickback Statute. In order to get their drugs on health plans’ formularies, or lists of drugs that payors cover, drug manufacturers pay rebates to PBMs, Medicare Part D plans and Medicaid managed care organizations. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar calls them “kickbacks.”
The proposed rule would end the exception but still allow rebates “for prescription drug discounts offered directly to patients, as well as fixed fee service arrangements between drug manufacturers and PBMs,” HHS said in January.
Comments on the proposal closed April 8, the same day that AARP submitted a letter to HHS criticizing it. AARP believes drug manufacturers, not PBMs, are to blame, the organization told The Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement.
“We strongly agree with President [Donald] Trump on the need to address soaring drug prices, but on the rebate rule, [the Congressional Budget Office] has said it would raise all seniors’ Part D premiums, cost Medicare nearly $200 [billion], and have little impact on drug prices,” an AARP spokesperson said in a statement to TheDCNF.
AAN Staff
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