Small Business Disappointed in Governor’s Neutering of SF23-151

March 20, 2023

Small Business Disappointed in Governor’s Neutering of SF23-151

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Tony Gagliardi, Wyoming State Director, Tony.Gagliardi@nfib.org or Tony Malandra, Senior Media Manager, Anthony.Malandra@nfib.org CHEYENNE, Wyo., March 20, 2023—The Wyoming state director for the nation’s leading small-business association today expressed his disappointment over Gov. Mark Gordon’s removal of key parts of Senate-File 23-151, which aimed to throw back the curtain on how pharmacy benefit managers price prescriptions drugs. “It would have been nice to see the governor stand up to the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) lobby,” said Tony Gagliardi, Wyoming state director for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). “Senate File 151 could have assured the stabilization of the pharmacy industry in Wyoming. Instead, the governor chose to listen to PBM lobbyists, who convinced him to use his line-item veto authority to let them continue their backroom deal-making. He basically gutted the bill of those issues important to independent pharmacies.” The conduct of PBMs has drawn congressional scrutiny as well, as mentioned in this guest editorial on the NFIB Wyoming webpage written by Casper pharmacist Eric Saul. Excerpts:

— “Welcome to the world of rebates, spreads, and kickbacks that are driving up drug costs and insurance premiums for patients.

— “When people come to see me to fill their prescriptions, most don’t know a very powerful middleman exists between them and the drug companies—Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs).

— “Their methods of operation are particularly punishing in heavily rural states like ours, making it difficult to get the affordable medicines Wyomingites need at places convenient for them to pick up.”

In an August 2022 special survey of NFIB-member, Wyoming small-business owners, it found 67% in favor of having PBMs disclose their pricing methods to pharmacies and consumers. On their 2023 State Ballot, NFIB members voted resoundingly, 97% to 3%, in favor of every Wyomingite having a right to choose his or her pharmacy. The cost of health care has been small businesses’ No. 1 concern for more than 30 consecutive years. None of the other 74 issues measured by NFIB’s quadrennial Small Business Problems & Priorities report has ever knocked it out of first place. “That SF 151 passed comfortably at each stage of its committee journey in both chambers [see ‘Votes’ tab at the bill link above] makes the governor’s decision doubly disappointing,” added Gagliardi. Keep up with the latest Wyoming small-business news at www.nfib.com/WY and on Twitter @NFIB_WY ### For 80 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven association. Since its founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com. NFIB Wyoming P.O. Box 1890 Cheyenne, WY 82009 866-639-1846 NFIB.com/WY Twitter: @NFIB_WY