The Mississippi Senate on Tuesday approved its version of pharmacy benefit manager reform legislation, passing the bill 44-7 and sending it back to the House for further consideration, Senate officials said.
Republican Sen. Rita Parks of Corinth, who has led PBM reform efforts in the Senate for years, offered an amendment that replaced the House’s original language. Parks said the changes strengthen House Bill 1665 by adding provisions requested by independent pharmacists to ensure they are paid fairly and transparently for dispensing drugs to patients. “Can we afford to not do anything as a state?” she asked on the Senate floor.
The Senate measure maintains provisions from the House bill to increase transparency, prohibit spread pricing and require pharmacists be reimbursed at least as much as an affiliate pharmacy or the Mississippi Division of Medicaid, which covers the cost of the drug and a dispensing fee, according to the bill. The measure also keeps oversight of pharmacy benefit managers under the state Board of Pharmacy rather than transferring it to the insurance commissioner.
Opponents argued the Senate’s payment structure could raise prescription costs and harm Mississippi businesses. Republican Sen. Jeremy England of Vancleave, the chamber’s most vocal opponent of Parks’ language, urged lawmakers to pass the House version and send it to Gov. Tate Reeves. England cited a letter from the Mississippi Business Alliance warning that rising prescription costs could force employers to drop health plans and presented a Legislative Budget Office memo estimating the bill would add $34 million in costs to the State Health Plan. “This is bad policy,” England said. “This is going to cost our job creators money.”
Parks said business groups have used “scare tactics” to oppose reform and pointed to Medicaid data she said generated tens of millions of dollars in savings after the Division of Medicaid changed its reimbursement policy in 2017. Sen. Daniel Sparks of Belmont noted the cost estimate England cited was provided by CVS, which owns CVS Caremark. “They’re not asking for special treatment, they’re asking for a fair reimbursement system,” Parks said.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
