High Court Upholds State Law Reining in Pharmacy Drug Middlemen (2)

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld an Arkansas law Thursday that regulates the powerful pharmacy drug middlemen that employer health plans hire to manage prescription drug benefits.

In a 8-0 decision, the court held the law isn’t preempted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Justice Amy Coney Barrett took no part in consideration of the case.

Arkansas’s law “is merely a form of cost regulation,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said in the court’s majority ruling.

The case had threatened to cripple state efforts to control the cost of prescription drugs and other health-care services at a time when health-care costs ...