Justices Question State Law Guiding Pharmacy Drug Middlemen (1)

A short-handed Supreme Court Tuesday cast doubt upon the validity of an Arkansas law that aims to curb abusive practices by those who manage prescription drug benefit plans.

The justices wrestled with whether the state has the authority to regulate pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, under the federal law governing employee benefit plans.

“If we follow the way we generally interpret statutes in this case, you would be in a lot of trouble, wouldn’t you?” Justice Samuel Alito asked Arkansas Solicitor General Nicholas Bronni.

Arkansas’s law, which is similar to those in 35 other states, not only regulates the rates ...