It's no question that Minnesota's independent pharmacies are ESSENTIAL to the health of Minnesotan patients, communities, and our local economies. Nor, too, that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are largely to blame for their scarcity. These corporate middlemen now decide which pharmacies you can use, what medications you can take, how much they cost you, and what your pharmacy is reimbursed for filling your prescriptions. 

A decades-long crumbling of community-based pharmacy care due to PBM abuse in Minnesota has now come to a breaking point, resulting in the widespread closure of local pharmacies, independent and chain alike. Addressing PBM abuse through legislative reform is CRITICAL to ending this trend and ensuring that essential, high-quality pharmacy care remains locally available to Minnesotans.