"A bipartisan group of lawmakers are set to introduce legislation to break up pharmacy-benefit managers, the drug middlemen that have now faced yearslong scrutiny from Congress and the Federal Trade Commission.

A Senate bill, sponsored by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) and Josh Hawley (R., Mo.), would force the companies that own health insurers or pharmacy-benefit managers to divest their pharmacy businesses within three years. A companion bill, which sponsors say draws on a history of government prohibitions on joint ownership within industries, was also scheduled to be introduced in the House on Wednesday.

If passed, the legislation would be the most far-reaching intervention yet into the operations of pharmacy-benefit managers, known as PBMs, and their parent companies, cutting off a major source of revenue for the companies and frustration for patients. “PBMs have manipulated the market to enrich themselves—hiking up drug costs, cheating employers, and driving small pharmacies out of business,” Warren said. “My new bipartisan bill will untangle these conflicts of interest by reining in these middlemen.”

Hawley said the legislation “will stop the insurance companies and PBMs from gobbling up even more of American healthcare and charging American families more and more for less.”

I'm immediately skeptical when I see Elizabeth Warrens name........but evidently there has been a lot of frustration nationally over the last few years about these PBM's and their impact on healthcare costs. Even though Mark Cuban is lately a weirdo he started a cost plus pharmacy and IIRC blamed PBMs as one of the big problems with the healthcare industry. I do generally believe insurance co's and their tangled webs are often a massive hassle for patients and doctors. Anybody have insights into this industry or thoughts on the bill?