Senator Josh Hawley took a sledgehammer to Big Pharma’s shady middlemen in a fiery Senate showdown. The Missouri Republican exposed how pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are ripping off families while lining their pockets. “Missourians are getting screwed while you’re getting rich!” Hawley thundered at a PBM lobbyist during Tuesday’s hearing.
Hawley dropped bombshell numbers showing Americans pay 422% more for drugs than other countries. He revealed three corporate giants control 80% of the PBM market – a racket that’s closed 73 Missouri pharmacies since 2023. Rural communities face pharmacy deserts while fat cats count their billions.
“You’re supposed to make drugs cheaper – are you succeeding?” Hawley challenged. The lobbyist squirmed as Hawley answered his own question: “The answer is NO.” The Senator shredded claims that PBMs help patients, calling their monopoly “immoral” and “un-American.”
In Knox and Schuyler counties, hardworking folks can’t fill prescriptions locally because PBMs killed competition. Hawley vowed to protect Main Street pharmacies from Wall Street greed. “This isn’t capitalism – it’s corruption,” he declared to applause from conservatives tired of corporate welfare.
The Senator’s bill would smash the alliance between insurance companies and PBMs – a crony system that jacks up prices. Unlike limp-wristed DC elites, Hawley actually fights for regular Americans. His solution? Bust up monopolies and let free markets work.
This isn’t Hawley’s first rodeo against Big Pharma. Last week he teamed with President Trump to slash drug costs through bold executive action. While Democrats coddle coastal elites, Hawley’s putting America First by draining the healthcare swamp.
The hearing exposed PBMs as modern-day robber barons. They’ve pocketed $7.3 billion in just five years by overcharging patients. Hawley’s right – it’s time to break their stranglehold so families can afford lifesaving medicines.
Real leadership means taking on powerful interests. Hawley’s doing what conservatives elected him to do – protect Missouri values from coastal cartels. Every pharmacy closure, every inflated prescription, proves Washington needs more fighters like him.
