Pharmacy choice law placed on hold
Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready will not enforce many provisions of a law that is intended to give patients the right to choose a pharmacy provider without paying a penalty while the measure faces a legal challenge.
Mulready agreed Tuesday not to cite violators of the new law after a national trade association representing pharmacy benefit managers sued in federal court.
The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association is asking a judge to prevent the state from enforcing the Patient's Right to Pharmacy Choice Act, which gives patients more freedom in where they get their prescriptions.
They're asking the judge to rule that specific federal laws surrounding prescription drugs and health plans supersede the Oklahoma law that took effect Nov. 1.
Anticipating Oklahoma would face legal action, Gov. Kevin Stitt initially vetoed the legislation that regulates pharmacy benefit managers — intermediaries between drug manufacturers and health plans. His veto statement said similar legislation has been struck down in other states.
PBMs help insurers decide which drugs to cover and contract with pharmacies to distribute the medications. They have come under increased scrutiny nationally as the cost of prescription medications has gone up.
The bill's author, Sen. Greg McCortney, R-Ada, pushed the bill to bring more transparency to the PBM industry and level the playing field for small pharmacies competing with PBMs' retail pharmacy networks.
Stitt later signed a revised pharmacy choice bill. But opponents of the measure, like the State Chamber of Commerce, warned the law was headed for court. Chamber President and CEO Fred Morgan said the chamber supports the legal challenge to the "misguided" law.
“As legal experts predicted during session, this law is now being challenged in federal court," he said. "Furthermore, this is the fourth such challenge to this type of state law. Similar laws have already been overturned by the courts in at least two other states and challenged in a third.”