Governor Josh Shapiro celebrates pharmacy reform in Hollidaysburg

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (WTAJ) — Governor Josh Shapiro put pen to paper during a ceremonial signing for a bill to help local pharmacies.

The new law, known as House Bill 1993, limits the profits that Pharmacy Benefit Managers, or PBM’s for short, can receive being the middleman between local stores and drug manufacturers. Some of the limited activities include patient steering, prescriptions by mail and money recoupment from pharmacies.

Now, customers can walk into a store closest to them and pick up their needed prescriptions at lower costs.

“Access to quality health care is very important to our community, to our patients and our pharmacies should suffer less harm by this bill being passed today,” Bill Thompson, owner of Thompson’s Pharmacy in Hollidaysburg said.

“They make you feel warm and welcome and as someone who has experienced this first hand throughout my life,” Shapiro said. “I’m also committed to making sure they’re able to thrive in communities, rural, urban and suburban in Pennsylvania.”

Since the start of the year, over 140 stores have closed their doors in the commonwealth. On average, Thompson said that Pennsylvania loses one local pharmacy per day.

“We cannot have anymore community pharmacies closed in the state of Pa.,” Thompson said.

State Senator Judy Ward (R-30th) was in support of this bill, and made an appearance today, along with other officials from Harrisburg. She wanted to level the playing field to help out the community.

“These pharmacies are on the front lines of health care and are often the first stop for people looking for care,” Ward said. “But these pharmacies are struggling as more and more continue to close because of the unfair practices of PBM’s.”

According to Commissioner Mike Humphreys, PBM’s must submit an annual transparency report. This will list off all of the rebates toward drug manufacturers and any money not allocated through health insurers and real drug stores.

“When three PBM’s control 80% of the market, we’re dealing with a monster of a vertically integrated monopoly,” Rep. Jessica Benham (D-36th), the creator of this bill said.

Benham traveled throughout the state and met with local pharmacies to see the problem on hand. She heard stories of owners who tried desperate measures to keep their stores open.

“I’ve known pharmacists who’ve taken out second mortgages, who’ve liquidated their retirement accounts,” Benham said. “…but the theme has still been the same: one to two years and they’d close.”

Lawmakers say the bill was a bipartisan effort. Both sides of the aisle were willing to work together to come up with a solution, only taking nine months to make it happen.

“The Senate led by Republicans, the House led by Democrats. Yet we were able to come together on a number of historic common sense things, most notably today, PBM reform,” Shapiro said. “That’s the Pennsylvania way and that’s the way we get stuff done.”

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During an open Q&A session, Shapiro was asked about the potential of being Vice President with the endorsed Kamala Harris.

“On Sunday, I was really honored to receive a call from President Biden just a few moments after he made the announcement that he was dropping out of the race and endorsing the vice president, Vice president called me just a few moments after that,” Shapiro said. “I quickly offered her my endorsement. We spoke only about that, and we have not spoken since.”

Officials say the effects of the new law will show its clawbacks and effects over the next several months.

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