03/31/2025
Don't Get Fooled Again!
There's a growing campaign of misinformation targeting SB 252, Alabama's pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) reform bill. Critics of the bill are working hard to mislead employers and business leaders, using scare tacticsand fuzzy math to protect a system that has been quietly draining resources from both patients and companies for years.
Reform opponents have been asking employers to check with their HR departments to find out how many prescriptions the company covered last year—then multiply that number by $10.64 to "learn" how much SB 252 will supposedly cost the business.
This is a blatant oversimplification that ignores how the healthcare system actually works. A better question for employers is to ask how much the business currently pays over cost for the drugs employees receive. Here's the catch: They won't get an answer, because in most cases, PBMs refuse to provide detailed claims data to the very employers footing the bill, hiding markups that can run in excess of 10,000 percent and more.
The largest PBMs operate behind a curtain. They control which drugs are covered, where they can be filled, and how much pharmacies get paid—while pocketing the difference between what they charge your health plan and what they reimburse your local pharmacy. That's not free-market competition. That's price manipulation.
SB 252 brings accountability to the system. It ties reimbursement to Alabama Actual Acquisition Cost—a state-maintained index of what pharmacies actually pay for medications. That means fewer games, more transparency, and fairer pricing for everyone involved.
Opponents of the bill want you to believe it's a government overreach or a giveaway to special interests. But there's nothing conservative—or responsible—about letting billion-dollar middlemen operate with no transparency, no accountability, and no regard for how their decisions affect Alabama's working families, businesses, and rural pharmacies.
This is a bill that passed the Alabama Senate with no opposition and support from Republicans and Democrats alike. That kind of unity is rare, and it reflects how urgently this issue needs to be addressed.
As lawmakers prepare to take up SB 252 in the House, we encourage business owners, HR professionals, and elected leaders to take a closer look. Don't buy into the fear tactics and fuzzy math. Look at the facts, follow the money, and stand with the patients and pharmacies who are playing by the rules—and being punished for it.
SB 252 is about restoring fairness, transparency, and accountability to a system that has operated unchecked for far too long. That's not politics—it's common sense.
