WASHINGTON, D.C. — Your pharmacist might know a way for you to pay less for your prescription, but you'll never find out.
A Georgia congressman is part of an effort to ban agreements with insurers that force pharmacists to keep quiet.
What’s happening is called gag clauses. Pharmacists are legally bound by insurance providers not to tell patients when they could get a cheaper price for their prescriptions if they pay cash instead of the copay.
“That's ludicrous. Pharmacists are professionals who can help or assist patients in getting medications and cheaply as they can get them, and we need to be able to do that,” Georgia Congressman Buddy Carter said.
Carter has been a pharmacist for 30 years. He's part of a growing bipartisan push to ban the so-called gag clauses.
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Last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar testified before a Senate committee that the Trump administration is pressuring insurance companies to stop the practice.
“CMS has reminded part D plans that it is unacceptable to have gag clauses barring pharmacists from working with pharmacists to identify lower cost options,” Azar said.
In a survey, The National Community Pharmacist Association found this is so common that 83-percent of pharmacists experienced situations where patients overpaid because of gag clauses at least 10 times during the past month.
There are bills in both the House and Senate that would ban gag clauses.
Pharmacy giant CVS posted a statement on its website saying it supports those bills.
Cox Media Group
