Employers Fight State Efforts to Rein in Drug Benefits Managers

Large employers that fund their workers’ health insurance benefits are increasingly concerned about state laws governing the way pharmacy benefit managers run their plans.

Laws enacted in recent years in Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Florida, as well as a bill under consideration in North Carolina, seek to control PBM network standards, cost-sharing practices, and reimbursement rates. States see it as an effort to help community pharmacists.

Self-insured employers often rely on PBMs to administer prescription drug benefits, and they say the standards being imposed by states inhibit their ability to design their health plans. That violates the federal Employee Retirement Income ...