DES MOINES, Iowa — Seven days before an Iowa law is scheduled to go into effect, a group of business groups filed a lawsuit to try to stop it. The lawsuit filed by Iowa Association of Business and Industry, the Iowa Bankers Benefit Plan, Iowa Laborers District Council Health and Welfare Fund, Des Moines Orthopaedic Surgeons PC, and Iowa Spring Manufacturing & Sales Co. targets the new law regulating pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs).
PBMs serve as intermediaries between drug manufacturers, pharmacies, and the entities providing prescription drug coverage. During this past legislative session, lawmakers agreed on PBM reforms (Senate File 383) that would guarantee a minimum price that pharmacists receive when they fill a prescription and provide a $10.68 fee for each drug a pharmacy provides.
Pharmacists had complained to legislators that PBMs had been reimbursing them at a cheaper rate than it cost them to give out the prescriptions to customers. They said that was driving smaller pharmacists out of business and reducing options for residents.
The lawsuit claims that the new law violates the First Amendment by prohibiting employers from recommending certain pharmacies over others. It also claims that the state law attempts to override the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a federal law.
The litigants want a temporary restraining order to prevent the new state law from taking effect on July 1st, while the lawsuit works its way through the legal process.
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