Today, Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed SB 5213 into law. The law protects patients and the pharmacies who serve them from pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). PBMs are middlemen that operate in the space between the plan and patients – and who determine what pharmacies a patient can use and what drugs patients can receive. As PBMs have vertically integrated with health plans and pharmacies, they have increasingly engaged in anticompetitive steering practices that hurt patient choice and drive independent pharmacies out of business.

“We thank Senator Kuderer, Senator Short and the Washington State Pharmacy Association for championing this bill. For too long, PBMs have operated in the shadows, wreaking havoc on the healthcare safety net, fragmenting patient care by forcing patients into the PBMs’ own affiliated mail order pharmacies. This bill provides protections for patient care, patient choice and pharmacies,” said Laura Boudreau, Chief of Operations at AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), which worked with the legislators and the Washington State Pharmacy Association to ensure passage of the bill.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world’s largest HIV/AIDS healthcare organization, provides cutting-edge medicine and advocacy to more than 1.9 million individuals across 45 countries, including the U.S. and in Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region, and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, visit us online at AIDShealth.org, find us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, and subscribe to our AHFter Hours podcast.

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