Josh Hawley slams PCMA using Brian Thompson's death as a 'shield'

The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association angered lawmakers when it raised the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a news release opposing new pharmacy benefit manager legislation.

"What a despicable thing, to try and use a victim of a crime to try to shield them from any kind of accountability. At this point, though, I'd expect nothing less. I mean, these really are bad actors," said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), one of the lead sponsors of the Patients Before Monopolies Act of 2024, or PBM Act.

Related: Warren, Hawley propose PBM Act to break up CVS, UnitedHealth

After Hawley, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.) and Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass) unveiled their bill Wednesday, PCMA issued a news release attributed to President and CEO JC Scott. The statement opened with commentary on Thompson's killing and the widespread public displays of anger at healthcare companies that followed.

“It’s important at this time to take a step back from the rhetoric around healthcare and recognize that PBMs exist to serve patients by enabling employers and others to offer benefits. Whether it’s through negotiations to lower costs, partnerships with pharmacies or clinical care programs, our value is in helping patients access affordable prescription drugs," Scott said in the news release.

“Comments that rationalize senseless violent acts should be met with a swift and overwhelming rebuke from policymakers as well as healthcare stakeholders. We ask all of our partners in healthcare to join us in denouncing and speaking out against any efforts to exploit this tragedy to advance a political agenda," Scott said.

Hawley reacted strongly to PCMA's own rhetoric.

"What an absurd statement from an industry, from a group of people, frankly, who routinely fleece their patients, who have done more to drive up healthcare costs than almost anybody else," Hawley told reporters Thursday.

Hawley and Warren each affirmed that their work on the PBM Act long predated Thompson's murder. "Sen. Hawley and I have been working on this bill for months," Warren told reporters Thursday.

The PBM Act would require vertically integrated healthcare companies to divest their pharmacy businesses within three years. If enacted, the measure would break up conglomerates such as UnitedHealthcare and OptumRx parent company UnitedHealth Group, Aetna and CVS Caremark parent company CVS Health, and Express Scripts parent company Cigna.

PBMs have been under intense bipartisan scrutiny on Capitol Hill over the past two years.

House and Senate committees staged combative hearings to criticize the industry over high drug costs and other matters, and legislators introduced a slew of bills. House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) even threatened executives from CVS Caremark, OptumRx and Express Scripts with prosecution over testimony he deemed to be false.

To date, this attention has not translated into PBM legislation landing on President Joe Biden's desk, in part because of heavy lobbying by the industry.

"I hope in the new Congress, absolutely, we'll be able to take some action. The cost of healthcare is just totally unaffordable. The cost of prescriptions is unaffordable. And part of the reason — a big part of the reason — why is these companies," Hawley said. "It's mass consolidation. It's classic monopolistic, sort of cartel-like behavior and vertical integration."

Hawley, Warren and colleagues introduced the PBM Act amid ongoing negotiations over possible inclusion of other PBM legislation in a year-end package, and in hopes it would at least improve the odds the measure advances next year. The timing was not related to the Thompson murder, Hawley and Warren said.

Warren has attracted criticism for comments she made after Thompson's murder. Speaking to HuffPost Tuesday, Warren remarked that "violence is never the answer, but people can be pushed only so far.” She later released a statement that "Violence is never the answer. Period" and that she should have been clearer.

Asked for comment on Hawley's reaction to its news release, PCMA focused on Warren.

“We appreciate that Sen. Warren walked back her comments, which only escalated what has been a shocking amount of online and media validation for the horrific actions that resulted in the death of our colleague," PCMA said in a statement Thursday. "We all have a role to play in denouncing violence and turning down the volume on commentary that fuels violent acts, and that was the goal of our statement."

PCMA also allowed there could be a misunderstanding.

"While we stand by our concerns with the senator’s initial comments and appreciate her subsequent retraction, we also understand that she may not have intended to connect the bill to the broader environment," PCMA said. "We truly want nothing more than to engage in a constructive dialogue about the merits of public policy.”