An Iowa law forcing pharmacy benefit managers to disclose how they price generic drugs is preempted by federal benefits law, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled (Pharmaceutical Care Mgmt. Assoc. v. Gerhart, 2017 BL 7351, 8th Cir., No. 15-3292, 1/11/17).
The 2014 law forces PBMs like Express Scripts and CVS Health to disclose pricing methodology to Iowa’s insurance commissioner and to allow pharmacies to comment on and appeal pricing decisions. The Eighth Circuit on Jan. 11 found this law to be unenforceable as preempted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act ...