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Rutledge Files PBM Brief with U.S. Supreme Court
Tue, Feb 25, 2020Rutledge says, ‘the stranglehold PBMs have on drug prices is driving many local pharmacies out of business’
LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge filed a brief Monday with the United States Supreme Court in Arkansas’s pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) case. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in that case on April 27, 2020. In this case, Rutledge seeks to protect rural Arkansas’s small businesses and save community pharmacies from abusive PBM payment practices.
“For many Arkansans, we interact most frequently with our local pharmacists, but the stranglehold PBMs have on drug prices is driving many local pharmacies out of business,” said Attorney General Rutledge. “It’s time we hold PBMs accountable for skyrocketing prescription drug prices and directly hurting Arkansan’s pocketbooks.”
In 2015, the Arkansas General Assembly enacted Act 900 to regulate PBMs who play the role of intermediary, reimbursing pharmacists for prescription drugs dispensed to insurance beneficiaries. Before Act 900’s enactment, PBMs were found to reimburse pharmacies at less than a pharmacy’s cost to acquire a drug, causing more than 16 percent of rural pharmacies to close in recent years.
In 2015, PCMA filed a lawsuit to block enforcement of Act 900. U.S. District Judge Brian Miller ruled Act 900 was preempted by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act, and in 2018 the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Judge Miller’s ruling
Rutledge petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court in November 2018. Rutledge’s petition was supported by the U.S. Solicitor General and a bipartisan, 32-state coalition led by California.
The case is Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, No. 18-540.
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U.S. Supreme Court Reveals Rutledge’s PBM Argument Date
Fri, Feb 21, 2020Rutledge says, ‘one step closer to protecting Arkansans from skyrocketing prescription drug prices’
LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge today announced the U. S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on Arkansas’s pharmacy benefit manager case on April 27 in Washington, D.C. The case, Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA), will focus on the State’s ability to protect Arkansas small businesses in rural areas and save community pharmacies from abusive pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) payment practices.
“We are now one step closer to protecting Arkansans from skyrocketing prescription drug prices by holding PBMs accountable,” said Attorney General Rutledge. “Nationwide, rural pharmacies are faced with unfair business practices by PBMs that harm consumers and our communities. It’s time states like Arkansas had the power to protect themselves and ensure Arkansans are able to receive necessary medications.”
In 2015, the Arkansas General Assembly enacted Act 900 to regulate PBMs who play the role of intermediary, reimbursing pharmacists for prescription drugs dispensed to insurance beneficiaries. Before Act 900’s enactment, PBMs were found to reimburse pharmacies at less than a pharmacy’s cost to acquire a drug causing more than 16 percent of rural pharmacies to close in recent years.
In 2015, PCMA filed a lawsuit to blocked enforcement of Act 900. U.S. District Judge Brian Miller ruled Act 900 was preempted by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act, and in 2017 the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Judge Miller’s ruling
Rutledge petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court in November 2018. Rutledge’s petition was supported by the U.S. Solicitor General and a bipartisan, 32-state coalition led by California.
On January 10, 2020, the Supreme Court granted Rutledge’s petition. The case is Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, No.18-540.
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Rutledge Sues Firm for Illegally Enforcing Veterans’ Pensions Assignment Contracts
Thu, Feb 20, 2020Rutledge says, ‘We will always go after those who try to take advantage of our veterans’
LITTLE ROCK - Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge announced the filing of a complaint against Candy Kern-Fuller and Howard Sutter, lawyers at UpState Law Group in South Carolina for substantially assisting brokers with the illegal sale of veterans’ future pension payments. Kern-Fuller and Sutter are accused of developing the contract approval, payment collection and enforcement processes. The broker companies falsely told veterans that they were selling their future payments for a reduced lump-sum. In reality, the veterans’ pension assignment contracts were high interest loans that were void from the start. These deceptive and unfair acts and practices violate state and federal laws protecting veterans.
“Veterans who dedicated their lives to this country were vulnerable to scam artists who will stop at nothing to try to poach our veterans’ pensions despite state and federal protections,” said Attorney General Rutledge. “We will always go after those who try to take advantage of our veterans and their much deserved benefits.”
Attorney General Rutledge joins the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the state of South Carolina in asking the court to issue an injunction, provide redress to consumers and impose civil money penalties. The Complaint, filed in the Greenville Division of the United States District Court of South Carolina, alleges that Defendants’ deceptive and unfair acts and practices violate state and federal laws protecting veterans.
Last August, the federal CFPB joined Attorney General Rutledge in the investigation and settlement of claims against Andrew Gamber and his companies; Voyager Financial Group LLC, BAIC Inc., and SoBell Corp. for the brokering of contracts that offer high-interest credit to veterans in exchange for investors illegally acquiring rights to receive future pension payments. These businesses and their former owner are permanently prohibited from offering these illegal agreements. Defendants must cooperate fully with the Attorney General and CFPB to determine the identity and location of, and the amount of injury sustained by, each consumer.
If you are a consumer who has been impacted by the actions of Voyager Financial Group, SoBell, BAIC, Performance Arbitrage, Life Funding Options or UpState Law Group or its owners, Rutledge encourages you to contact the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Hotline at (800) 482-8982.