03/04/2026
An absolute 🤡🤡 show by the PBM lobby & their paid for politicians...
Yesterday I was reminded just how misunderstood the fight for independent pharmacies really is.
In a committee meeting, one of the senators opposing our bill accidentally said several times that he supported "PBR reform."
Not PBM reform.
PBR reform. 🍺
I wish I was kidding.
Everyone chuckled a little, me included.
But as I was driving home, that misuse of acronyms stuck with me.
Because I've often thought to myself -- I wish I had a dollar for every time I've said the words "PBM reform" over the past year.
If I did, I probably wouldn't be standing at the Capitol pleading with lawmakers to help us survive.
For many independent pharmacies like mine, this isn't politics.
This isn't a headline or a casual talking point.
This is our livelihood.
Our employees' paychecks.
Our patients who depend on us when they're sick, scared, or confused about their medications.
During the meeting yesterday, that same senator warned that passing PBM reform would hurt the big employers here in Mississippi because they are warning that their insurance costs are going to rise. He even said at one point "this is their bottom line we're talking about."
And he's right about one thing.
It is someone's bottom line.
But for us, it's not a corporate quarterly report.
It's whether the pharmacy that's taken care of these communities for years can keep the lights on.
It's whether patients still have someone they trust to help them navigate their medications.
It's whether another small-town, locally owned pharmacy disappears.
Every time we say PBM reform, we're not just repeating a slogan.
We are trying to explain a system that is quietly suffocating the pharmacies that take care of our Mississippi communities.
And when the very people making decisions about our future don't even fully understand what PBMs are and the damage they have cause.... well, it makes the fight that much heavier.
But we keep showing up.
We keep explaining.
We keep fighting.
Because behind every pharmacy fighting for PBM reform is a community that deserves to keep their pharmacy.
And if protecting billion-dollar companies' bottom-line means losing the pharmacies that take care of their employees and our neighbors, then maybe it's the wrong bottom line we are talking about.
**A big thank you to ChatGPT who helped me create this image. Laughter is the best medicine, right?
