Letter: My concern of pharmacy middlemen

This letter originally ran in The Post Star.

As a patient who deeply values the personal touch that my local pharmacy provides, I’m concerned by the growing influence pharmacy middlemen have on my healthcare decisions.

Called Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), these corporate entities were initially designed to provide electronic claims processing and negotiate drug costs. Only now, three PBMs dominate 80 percent of the healthcare market, playing by their own rules. They determine what pharmacies patients can use, often steering them away from local, independent shops to mail order and large chain pharmacies owned or affiliated with the PBMs themselves.

It corresponds with an alarming rate of local, independent pharmacies closing their doors. These community-based pharmacies provide personalized, thoughtful care that is unmatched by larger chains. As a patient of Pine Plains Pharmacy—where my pharmacist knows my name and understands my health history—I believe that this personalized care is integral to my overall well-being.

Fortunately, there’s a glimmer of hope in Congress as lawmakers attempt to rein in these monopolistic practices. They just need to be pushed over the finish line. I urge New York’s elected leaders in Washington to rally behind these efforts that will help protect patients like me.