ATAP Sends a Letter to Governor Roy Cooper on SB 257, the Medication Cost Transparency Act

The Honorable Roy Cooper

Governor of North Carolina

North Carolina Office of the Governor

20301 Mail Service Center Raleigh, NC 27699-0301

September 20, 2021

Re: SB 257, the Medication Cost Transparency Act

Dear Governor Cooper:

The Alliance for Transparent and Affordable Prescriptions (ATAP) is a coalition of provider and patient groups who have joined together over our shared concern with the practices of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). As patient and healthcare provider advocates, we urge you to sign SB 257, the Medication Cost Transparency Act, into law.

We are very concerned about the role PBMs play regarding the alarming price increases in the total cost and out of pocket costs of prescription drugs for patients, resulting in the loss of patient access to affordable and life-saving medications. Absent federal action, states can play a central role to ensure that patients are still protected from abusive PBM practices.

SB 257 would require PBMs to be licensed, add consumer protections to existing state statutes, restrict PBMs from prohibiting pharmacies from taking certain actions, establish rules for claim overpayments and PBM networks, and increase the Commissioner’s ability to take enforcement action against PBMs. As such, we urge you sign this legislation into law in order to ensure that our patients, and your constituents, have affordable access to medications which they so desperately need.

If you have any questions about our position, or if you would simply like to learn more about how PBMs operate in the marketplace, please contact: Eleni Valanos at evalanos@hhs.com.

Sincerely,

Robert W. Levin, MD

President

Alliance for Transparent and Affordable Prescriptions (ATAP)