CVS officials said a new law restricting Pharmacy Benefit Managers from owning pharmacies will result in the closure of more than 20 Arkansas pharmacies.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed HB1150 into law on Wednesday afternoon.
CVS Health released a statement shortly after the governor signed the bill into law, flatly calling the law “bad policy.”
“CVS Health welcomes a good faith discussion with policy makers in Arkansas and across the country on ways to make medicine more affordable and accessible,” CVS shared in a statement. “Unfortunately, HB1150 is bad policy that accomplishes just the opposite: it will take away access to pharmacy care in local communities, hike prescription drug spending across the state by millions of dollars each year, and cost hundreds of Arkansans their jobs.”
According to CVS, they have 23 pharmacies across the state. They also noted that this law will close more than 100 mail-order pharmacies in Arkansas.
Sanders said signing the bill was a matter of taking care of an overdue need.
“For far too long, drug middlemen called PBMs have taken advantage of lax regulations to abuse customers, inflate drug prices, and cut off access to critical medications. Not anymore,” the governor said. “These massive corporations are attacking our state because we will be the first in the country to hold them accountable for their anti-competitive actions, but Arkansas has never been afraid to be a conservative leader for America.”
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