Ways and Means Committee Oversight Forces PBM Accountability

The Federal Trade Commission has reached a landmark settlement with Express Scripts, resolving allegations that the pharmacy benefit manager artificially inflated insulin prices and drove up costs for patients. The action confirms what lawmakers have warned for years. PBM abuses are real, systemic, and costly for American patients. Federal Trade Commission Express Scripts

Years of Oversight Set the Stage

This outcome did not come out of nowhere. It follows years of sustained oversight by the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, led by Chairman Jason Smith.

Under Chairman Smith’s leadership, the committee examined how pharmacy benefit managers use opaque pricing practices, spread pricing, and rebate arrangements that benefit middlemen while patients pay more at the pharmacy counter. Those investigations helped expose how PBMs distort drug markets and shield their conduct from accountability. U.S. House Ways and Means Committee Jason Smith

The FTC’s lawsuit echoed many of the same concerns raised during these hearings. The resulting settlement validates that scrutiny.

Accountability for Pharmacy Middlemen

PBMs sit between patients, insurers, and drug manufacturers. For too long, they have operated with limited transparency and little consequence.

The Express Scripts settlement signals a shift. Federal regulators are now willing to intervene when PBM practices inflate prices and harm patients. That is a necessary step toward restoring fairness in prescription drug markets.

Leadership Matters

This progress also reflects broader pressure from President Trump to confront entrenched health care middlemen. His administration emphasized accountability and competition rather than protecting opaque business models that thrive on complexity.

That focus is now producing results. Patients stand to benefit from lower drug costs and a system that is less tilted toward pharmacy middlemen. Donald Trump

CFE Takeaway

Lower drug prices do not require new price controls or government micromanagement. They require transparency, competition, and accountability.

The FTC’s settlement with Express Scripts confirms that persistent oversight by the Ways and Means Committee works. It also reinforces the case for continued PBM reform to ensure the health care system prioritizes patients over profits.