Why is AARP opposing Trump’s efforts to lower prescription drug prices?
Wasn’t Obamacare supposed to lower prices?
What is the AARP up to these days? One of the bigger disasters coming from the more general disaster of Obamacare was the abject failure of the program to rein in rising costs for prescription drugs. In fact, price increases accelerated after the program went into effect. One factor is the practice of having pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) at healthcare organizations who are able to select which drugs are included on their list of medicines that are covered by their healthcare plans.
Obviously, drug manufacturers are eager to have their drugs appear on these lists and they pay kickbacks to the PBMs. This drives up the total costs and the net effect is your prescriptions cost more. The administration is changing the rules via Health and Human Services to end these kickbacks, but AARP sent in their own comments opposing the rule change. They claim that it’s not the fault of the PBMs, but the pharmaceutical companies themselves. But there’s a catch to this story, AARP has an ulterior motive. They’re in a partnership with one of the biggest PBMs out there and it earns them hundreds of millions in royalties.
