Louisiana Independent Pharmacies Association - LIPA

02/21/2026

Thank you, AG Murrill, for protecting Louisiana patients and communities!

🚨Today I'm announcing the resolution of three separate lawsuits filed against CVS Health and its related pharmacy benefit manager subsidiary, resulting in a significant financial recovery for the State of Louisiana and its taxpayers.

These cases involved conduct directly impacting Louisiana citizens. Rather than prolonging litigation, which could have extended several years, we worked with CVS Health to reach a resolution that serves the best interests of Louisiana. The funds will be used to further ensure accountability in pharmaceutical pricing and PBM industry practices.
https://aglizmurrill.com/Article/430

02/04/2026

State Rep. Michael Echols continues to lead the charge against PBM abuses, fighting to ensure the reforms passed into law during last year's regular legislative session are enforced and pharmacies are reimbursed for the real cost of acquiring and dispensing medications to patients in their communities.

Independent pharmacies deserve fairness, not empty promises. Thank you Michael Echols for being a staunch advocate for Louisiana's independent pharmacies!

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02/03/2026

🚨PBM reform is headed to the President’s desk. After Senate passage last week, the U.S. House has now approved the package by a vote of 217-214.

The PBM provisions include delinking PBM compensation tied to drug utilization, directing CMS to establish reasonable Part D contract standards, and designating "essential retail pharmacies" in underserved areas. Thank you to our leaders in D.C. for getting these provisions across the finish line.

This is great progress, but there is still work to be done to rein in pharmacy middlemen and make prescription drugs more affordable for all Americans.

BREAKING: The House voted to end a partial government shutdown, funding the bulk of the federal agencies and providing 10 more days of funding for the Department of Homeland Security as Democrats make demands for reforms to immigration enforcement.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5720897-bipartisan-funding-package-approved/

01/23/2026

The statutorily created PBM Monitoring Advisory Council met yesterday in the Louisiana State Capitol where executives from both OptumRx and Caremark offered testimony. A lot of information was shared, but we wanted to highlight and clarify a few key points:

1) “Letting the consumer pick their services wherever they want will drive up healthcare costs.” is blatantaly false.

Patient choice lowers costs by preventing PBMs from steering care to their own pharmacies and protecting profit margins instead of patient care.

2) "Our negotiations and clinical tools deliver more than $2,000 per person on average drug savings."

If this was true would PBMs prefer higher-cost brand drugs over cheaper generics because brands generate larger rebates, even when patients pay more?

3) The Caremark executive admitted patients can still use an independent pharmacy, it just may cost them more.

That’s not choice. That’s financial coercion.

Independent community pharmacies are not asking for patients to be forced to their own stores, and they are not asking for massive profits. Our ask is consistent and simple: that patients have access to their choice of healthcare provider, whether that’s the pharmacy closest to home, closest to work, or where the pharmacist knows them by name. And that the pharmacy be paid to cover their cost of acquiring and dispensing the medication the patient relies on. That choice improves access, continuity of care, medication adherence, and outcomes. It does not inflate drug prices.

The real threat to affordability is not patient choice. It is a system where powerful PBMs continue to prioritize their own profits over Louisiana’s patients and providers. When PBMs warn that reform will make medications unaffordable, they are admitting that their business model depends on limiting choice and underpaying pharmacies.

09/24/2025

“Patients cannot afford to subsidize a business built on undisclosed deals between PBMs and drug manufacturers. Cost-sharing based on inflated list prices forces patients to pay more, while rebates and fees are retained elsewhere in the system.”

Matt Cover’s Sept. 23 op-ed sought to paint pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) as good actors trying to keep prices low for patients. In doing so, he got one thing right

09/23/2025

The Op-Ed below argues flashy headlines don’t lower prices. On this point, we agree: headlines don’t. But neither do secret contracts, hidden rebates, or claw back schemes. Patients pay more at the counter while PBMs pocket savings in the shadows. Cost-sharing based on inflated list prices forces patients to shoulder the burden while rebates and fees disappear into corporate structures.PBMs want to be seen as heroes taking on “Big Pharma,” but the facts tell a different story. If PBMs were truly passing savings along, independent pharmacies wouldn’t be closing across Louisiana due to below-cost reimbursements. Patients wouldn’t be facing higher copays while billions in rebates vanish into corporate black boxes. Even Express Scripts’ own representative could not answer where the money goes. Transparency is not about protecting profits; it is about protecting patients.

On Monday, a state-funded committee in Louisiana gave Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Company a taxpayer-funded microphone to attack Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs). But what the public was not made

08/11/2025

"PBMs use their ownership of pharmacies to manipulate the system. They underpay locally operated pharmacies, force veterans into their mail-order programs and overcharge TRICARE while pocketing the difference. That isn’t about access and quality care. It’s about greed."

Click below for the full write-up from Donna Walker, who is a TRICARE patient in Ball, Louisiana.

As a cancer patient covered by my husband’s TRICARE health insurance, I read Rob Maness’ July 11 guest column opposing pharmacy benefit manager reform with disappointment. His argument misses the

07/21/2025

"It’s a system designed to limit access exclusively to the benefit of the pharmacy benefit manager."

Read LIPA Board Chairman David Osborn's full write-up in the Louisiana Illuminator below:

For many military families, access to quality pharmaceutical care is already broken, and pharmacy benefit managers helped break it.

07/11/2025

While we appreciate Colonel Maness’s commitment to veterans and agree that ensuring reliable access to medication is paramount, his recent guest column is misguided. Prohibiting pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) from owning pharmacies addresses the conflict of interest that drives veterans to less reliable options.

PBMs were created to broker fair drug prices, but Cigna-owned Express Scripts has leveraged its TRICARE contract—held exclusively since 2009—to squeeze out independent pharmacies and steer 9.6 million beneficiaries into its own mail-order arm, Accredo.

In August 2022 alone, more than 15,000 pharmacies left the TRICARE network under outrageous contract terms, forcing 400,000 military families to choose between going out of network or relying on mail order, with all the delays and communication breakdowns that entails.

The significant overpayments in the picture below illustrate how PBMs and their affiliate-owned pharmacies pad their bottom lines while restricting access to our service members.

Furthermore, independent pharmacies often struggle to participate due to PBMs setting non-negotiable reimbursement rates below dispensing costs. Consequently, many local pharmacies opt out, limiting veterans' choices and convenience.

Far from expanding access, these tactics undermine patient care by delaying critical medications, complicating pharmacist‐patient communication, and stripping away personalized support that community pharmacists provide daily.

And while some warn that PBM reform would shutter pharmacies, states with similar laws have seen independent and non-integrated chains expand services, not reduce them.

The recent hardship of large chains like Rite Aid underscores a different lesson: over-consolidation makes the system brittle. Independent pharmacies, rooted in our communities, proved more resilient and responsive, especially when corporate giants faltered during times of crisis.

What our veterans, and all Louisianans, need is real reform: transparent PBM pricing, fair reimbursement tied to true dispensing costs, and clear firewalls preventing PBMs from steering patients toward their own pharmacies. That’s patient-focused, practical, and builds a sustainable pharmacy ecosystem.

We urge our legislators to support targeted PBM reform, not pharmacy bans, to safeguard choice, preserve community pharmacies, and ensure timely, affordable access to medications for those who’ve served and for all citizens of our state.

For more information on Tricare, please see this 2024 letter from several U.S. Senators expressing grave concerns with the contract.

https://www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/final_-_warren_rounds_welch_carter_letter_to_tricare_on_express_scripts.pdf

06/24/2025

🎉VICTORY FOR PHARMACY FAIRNESS IN LOUISIANA! 🎉
Today, Governor Jeff Landry officially signed HB264 into law, marking a major step forward in holding pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) accountable and protecting local pharmacy access across Louisiana.

With this new law, Louisiana will now require PBM transparency, fairer reimbursement practices and stronger oversight — ensuring patients get fair prices, local access and better care.

We were proud to stand alongside Gov. Landry as this critical legislation was signed. Thank you to our legislative champions, supporters and every Louisianan who raised their voice.
This is what advocacy in action looks like — and we’re just getting started. Continue supporting real reform at RxReformNowLA.com

06/14/2025

06/14/2025

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