{"id":937982,"date":"2026-07-16T03:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T03:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/937982\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T03:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T03:26:14","slug":"multibillion-dollar-settlement-could-mean-you-pay-less-for-your-prescriptions-wsb-tv-channel-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/937982\/","title":{"rendered":"Multibillion dollar settlement could mean you pay less for your prescriptions \u2013 WSB-TV Channel 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA \u2014 Federal regulators say a new settlement with one of the country\u2019s largest pharmacy benefit managers could lead to lower prescription drug costs for consumers and save patients billions of dollars over the next decade.<\/p>\n

The Federal Trade Commission announced a multibillion-dollar settlement with CVS Caremark, the pharmacy benefit manager, or PBM, owned by CVS Health. The FTC alleges that PBMs helped drive up prescription drug costs by encouraging higher list prices on certain medications while collecting rebates from drug manufacturers.<\/p>\n

Most consumers are unfamiliar with PBMs, but they play a major role in the prescription drug system. PBMs act as intermediaries between insurance companies, pharmacies and drug manufacturers, helping determine which drugs are covered and how much patients pay.<\/p>\n

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The three PBMs targeted by the FTC, CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and Optum Rx, collectively manage roughly 80% of prescriptions filled in the United States.<\/p>\n

Apollon Constantinides, owner of Lakeside Pharmacy and Compounding Lab in Forsyth County, said PBMs have dramatically changed the prescription drug market during the decades he has spent working in independent pharmacy.<\/p>\n

Constantinides began working in his father\u2019s Atlanta pharmacy as a teenager and has operated Lakeside Pharmacy for more than 20 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow PBMs have a lot of control over the market and what pharmacies can carry, what can come to market, where it can go, who can give it to you, and it\u2019s just an overreach,\u201d Constantinides said.<\/p>\n

The FTC made similar allegations in its lawsuit against the three major PBMs.<\/p>\n

In its complaint, the agency said the country\u2019s prescription drug affordability crisis is driven in part by PBMs\u2019 \u201cmanipulation of drug price competition for their own gain.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the FTC, PBMs benefited financially from manufacturer rebates tied to high-priced drugs, while some patients paid out-of-pocket costs based on those higher list prices.<\/p>\n

MORE FROM CHANNEL 2 INVESTIGATES:<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThey got paid in part by the size of the rebate, but it hurt many patients because many patients had to pay for drugs at the list price or in a way that was based on the list price,\u201d FTC Director of Competition Daniel Guarnera said. \u201cSo many patients had to overpay for their drugs at the pharmacy counter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the settlement, FTC officials say rebate savings that previously went to the PBM will instead be passed on to patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cPatients will benefit from the rebates that previously had benefited only the PBM,\u201d Guarnera said.<\/p>\n

CVS Caremark defended the agreement in a statement to Channel 2 Action News.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s agreement advances and reinforces the changes we have already put in place and ensures affordability for families and patients across the country,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n

The FTC estimates the CVS Caremark settlement will save consumers $4.5 billion over the next 10 years. The agreement also includes a provision capping insulin costs at $25 per month for affected patients.<\/p>\n

Constantinides said he believes the settlement is a positive step for consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about dollars and cents,\u201d he said. \u201cThe people that run these PBMs, they\u2019re not focused on health care. They\u2019re not focused on the medical side. They\u2019re bean counters.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FTC has already reached a settlement with Express Scripts and is considering a proposed settlement with Optum Rx, the third major PBM named in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

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\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA \u2014 Federal regulators say a new settlement with one of the country\u2019s largest pharmacy benefit managers could…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":265673,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[34],"tags":[5356,132058,15328,19367,182236,377775,138636,48592,377774,377769,377773,204111,377772,377771,16626,19277,210,26079,182227,377770,425,1060,11463,206997,67,132,68,1431],"class_list":["post-937982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-atlanta","tag-caremark","tag-cbs","tag-channel_2","tag-channel_2_action_news","tag-constantinideis","tag-constantinides","tag-cvs","tag-cvs_caremark","tag-cvs_pharmacy","tag-daniel_guarnera","tag-dekalb_county","tag-federal_trade_commission","tag-forsyth_county","tag-ftc","tag-george","tag-health","tag-justin","tag-justin_gray","tag-lakeside_pharmacy_and_compounding_lab","tag-local","tag-medication","tag-pbm","tag-pbms","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-wsbsyndication"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116927527830235305","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=937982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=937982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=937982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=937982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}