They operate in secret. They have no laboratories or research centers, and produce nothing. But they control a critical intersection of our health care system, influencing the price we pay for prescription drugs and skimming off billions of dollars for themselves.
They are called “pharmacy benefit managers,” or PBMs. From their creation in the 1960s as back-office clerks who shoveled paperwork between insurance companies and pharmacies, today PBMs act like a tollbooth for drug companies seeking access to health plans, providers and patients.
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