PhRMA’s smarmy avatar for the alleged avarice of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) is back in a fresh attack ad. And this time there’s two of him, enabling the trade group to blast insurance companies and their PBMs at the same time.
Facing criticisms about drug prices, PhRMA has sought to turn the attention on to PBMs in recent years. The trade group hit on a formula for its ads in 2019, when we first saw the man in the blue suit who has represented PBMs in PhRMA ads ever since. In the ads, the man typically smugly and callously explains how PhRMA contends middlemen drive up drug prices without providing value to anyone else.
The latest ad starts with a woman arriving to collect her prescription. The pharmacist is flanked by two men, both played by the actor who has represented PBMs in PhRMA ads for years. One man has the blue suit and red lollipop seen in earlier ads. The other man is dressed in a brown suit.
Responding to a question from the patient, the pharmacist says the men are the insurance company and its PBM. One of the men clarifies, adding “different suits, same company,” before his blue-suited PBM companion says “let’s charge a little more for that one.” The men agree with the patient that they decide what she pays.
The man representing the insurance company says “we take half,” prompting the patient to protest that they “don't even make the medicines.” That allows the blue-suited PBM avatar to chirpily deliver the ad’s killer line “that's right, we make money.”
PhRMA is running the ad in the aftermath of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) interim report on PBMs that provided support for its criticism of the business model. The FTC report found “PBMs have come under common ownership with the largest, most dominant health insurers.”