Continuing resolution keeps government funded, skips health care, PBM reform
Last week, the House of Representatives passed the slimmed-down government funding legislation without PBM reform. On Friday, the Senate took up consideration of the funding bill. Senate Democrats threatened to shut down the government, attempting to negotiate potential amendments as well as introducing their own legislation that would fund the government for one month, giving time for additional negotiations regarding President Donald Trump’s spending power. Ultimately, they were unsuccessful. Friday evening, the Senate passed the slimmed-down bill, keeping the government funded, by a vote of 54-46.
While negotiations were occurring, Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) attempted to pass the health care package agreed to in December, which included PBM reform, by unanimous consent, but Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) raised an objection, causing the effort to fail.
Filed under: General Problems
I just looked up PBMs online to make sure I understood where they fit into the Rube Goldberg structure that is our medical/insurance industrial complex. Forbes used a travel agency as an analogy. I can’t think of a time when I’ve booked a trip through a travel agency, and wouldn’t have been surprised to hear that they’d gone the way of video rental stores.