Oklahoma Pharmacy Benefit Law Denied Second Look in 10th Cir.

Oklahoma’s insurance department failed to convince the Tenth Circuit to rethink its recent decision invalidating part of a state law regulating pharmacy benefit managers.

The appeals court on Tuesday denied a rehearing petition filed by Oklahoma’s insurance commissioner, who criticized the court’s decision as conflicting with guidance from the US Supreme Court. The high court in 2020 “unanimously upheld” multiple provisions of a similar Arkansas law and established a “stringent standard” for assessing whether laws like this are preempted by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the state said in its petition.

Oklahoma said the Tenth Circuit treated that ...