Reining in drug middlemen

Good morning!

The New Jersey Assembly gave its final OK Monday to a bill that seeks to rein in pharmacy benefit managers, middlemen that critics say have helped boost drug costs.

Bill sponsor Assemblyman Roy Freiman (D) called pharmacy benefit managers’ current role in the drug supply chain system “a monopoly with a lab coat on it.” They contract with both drug makers and health insurance carriers, giving them significant leverage over where patients get their medications and what they pay.

“That’s not competition. That’s a rigged game,” he said.

The bill has yet to move in the state Senate. A group representing benefit managers said the bill would “make prescription drugs far more expensive.” The bill would set a standard pharmacy fee of $10.92 for each prescription filled.

“Among other policies that are a gift to Big Pharma, the bill would add $10.92 to every prescription filled in the state. That means higher costs for families, union workers, employers, and seniors already struggling under rising health care costs,” said the group’s spokesman, Greg Lopes.

Read more from Lilo Stainton.

Budget: Asian American and Pacific Islander activists, community leaders, and elected officials rallied in front of the Statehouse Monday to call for $5 million in state aid to AAPI groups in the next state budget. The community represents 11% of the state’s population but AAPI groups are slated to receive zero dollars in Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s proposed budget, they said. A $5 million addition would represent “about $5 per Asian American in the state,” said Amber Reed, co-executive director of AAPI New Jersey. “We think it’s a great place to start. Or really anything more than zero would be a great place to start.” Reed said.

Commentary: Jersey Bee editor Simon Galperin writes for us today on the importance of the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium, a nonprofit that receives state funding and offers grants to community news providers (we have received grant funding from them): “New Jersey was the first state to invest in this kind of civic information infrastructure. The New Jersey Civic Information Consortium is a bulwark against declining media literacy, a rising tide of misinformation, and a tumultuous AI future.” The consortium’s state funding is under threat in Sherrill’s budget plan.

World Cup: Sherrill was in Hoboken yesterday to say the state is urging bars and restaurants with liquor licenses to ask municipalities to OK them staying open later for World Cup matches in June and July. “New Jersey is home to so many vibrant communities, and the World Cup is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for people across our state to come together, celebrate, and enjoy everything that makes New Jersey special,” Sherrill said in a statement.

More: An instant classic headline from the geography-challenged Associated Press Monday:

I will die on this hill: New York is not hosting the World Cup and we don’t have to pretend it is.

Trump: President Trump said he’s dropping his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over a leak of his tax returns years ago, and instead his administration will oversee a $1.776 billion slush fund account intended to pay “victims of lawfare and weaponization.” Curious whether this money is going to Jan. rioters, people like Rudy Giuliani, both?