FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thurs., April 13, 2023
CONTACT: Aly Coleman Raschid, aly@on3pr.com, 850.449.8862
STATEMENT: EMPOWER Patients Coalition on Prescription Drug Reform Act Passing in Final Senate Committee Stop
Tallahassee, Fla. –The statement below, to be attributed toEMPOWER Patients coalition member and Executive Vice President and CEO of the Florida Pharmacy Association Helen Sairany, pertains to the “Prescription Drug Reform Act” (SB 1550 /HB 1509). It is being made in response to State Sen. Jason Brodeur’s (R-Lake Mary) SB 1550 passing in its final Senate committee, the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee, which is meeting today, Thurs., April 13.
“When both patients and pharmacists from across the state share their compelling testimony and often heartbreaking experiences, it only reaffirms the need for comprehensive pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) reform.
“PBMs are powerful, overreaching thorns in the sides of all involved in the prescription drug supply chain. Most egregiously, they manipulate patients, many of whom are facing debilitating or even life-threatening illnesses, not to mention already overwhelming financial burdens. These middlemen are also extorting smaller independent pharmacies – pillars of their communities – and putting them out of businesses, which is not only anticompetitive, but further limits when, where, and how patients can access medications they need to survive, if not thrive, here in Florida.
“The EMPOWER Patients coalition thanks Sen. Jason Brodeur and Rep. Linda Chaney for championing The Prescription Drug Reform Act. Senate Bill 1550, along with House Bill 1509, will put a hard stop to PBMs’ predatory, unethical practices and ensure patients always come first, followed closely by the community pharmacists who are working tirelessly on their behalf.”
For more information about EMPOWER Patients, please click here.
About EMPOWER Patients
The EMPOWER Patients coalition formed in 2020 to support policies that empower patients to take back control of their health care, increase access to affordable medication, restore the patient/pharmacist relationship, and drastically scale back the role of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in the prescription drug supply chain. EMPOWER Patients is comprised of the American Pharmacy Cooperative, Inc., Aspire Health Pharmacy Services, Florida Independent Pharmacy Network, Florida Pharmacy Association, National Community Pharmacists Association, Pharmacy Provider Services Corporation, Walgreens, and hundreds of patients and independent and community pharmacists and pharmacies across Florida.