12/6/2011 2:30 PM 

Emphasizes lack of evidence that PBMs pass on savings to consumers, employers and health plans; notes abundance of skepticism among consumer groups and public officials

Mike Bettiga, chief operating officer of NACDS-member Shopko Stores Operating Company, LLC, testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights on the proposed mega-merger of Express Scripts and Medco and its feared negative effects on health outcomes and patient and prescription drug costs. The subcommittee held a hearing on the controversial proposed acquisition in the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) industry, titled “The Express Scripts/Medco Merger: Cost Savings for Consumers or More Profits for the Middlemen?”

”There is little proof that PBMs pass along their purported savings to health plans, employers or consumers. In fact, the PBM industry has been fraught with allegations of extensive deceptive and fraudulent practices,” Bettiga said. “Patients appear to be an afterthought. A mega-PBM would have an increased ability to engage in similar egregious conduct to the detriment of consumers, payers, and pharmacy providers.”