By Dr. Maria Lopez
OPINION – As someone who has owned and operated several neighborhood pharmacies for more than 2 decades while serving a large Latino population, I take offense at the claim that SB 41 is “political optics” or that it somehow harms Latino communities. The reality is the exact opposite: SB 41 is the only bill on the table that begins to hold Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) accountable for the damage they are doing to patients, families, and pharmacies across California.
Let me be very clear: PBMs are not heroes keeping drug prices down. They are middlemen skimming billions of dollars off the top of prescriptions, while reimbursing pharmacies below cost and steering patients into their own difficult to navigate PBM owned mail-order pharmacies. PBMs are unregulated as evidenced by an FTC report and pharmacy industry experts. These practices are exactly what’s driving local pharmacies out of business. Contrary to the author’s opinion.
340 Rite Aids and neighborhood pharmacies are being driven out of business this year by unregulated PBMs harming Latino and other communities. The data shows that every closure means fewer places Black, Latino and others can pick up prescriptions and receive trusted care from people they know. The opinion piece paints a picture of Latino families depending on their neighborhood pharmacies. On that point—we are in agreement. But the truth is it’s PBMs, not SB 41, that are dismantling those very pharmacies. When PBMs cut reimbursements so far below cost that pharmacies can’t survive, they’re the ones pushing abuelitas into call centers and mail-order systems. SB 41 is designed to stop exactly that.
The bill is not “just for show,” SB41 regulates a highly unregulated and unchecked business sector, and is the reason PBMS are working in a panic to kill it. If SB 41 had no impact, the multi-billion-dollar corporations that control 80% of the prescription market wouldn’t be spending millions lobbying against it. They’re terrified because for once, Sacramento is considering a bill that shines a light on their predatory business model.
Both the FTC and the U.S. House of Representative’s Committee on Oversight and Accountability state PBMs enact anti-competitive business practices that often increase prices for patients and payors. Hence, we urgently need PBM regulation in California to counter monopolistic practices which hinder free market pricing, resulting in costlier medication prices. SB 41 doesn’t “weaponize” drug pricing. It takes the first step toward reining in the real culprits: the PBMs that profit off the backs of Californians.
To my fellow Californians, and Latino families: don’t be fooled. PBMs are not protecting you. They are profiting from you. Pharmacies are closing at record speed. Patients—especially in rural, and underserved communities—are being left behind. SB 41 is about accountability, access, and fairness. That’s not politics—it’s patient care.
Dr. Maria Lopez is a proud multi generation Californian and pharmacy leader who has dedicated her career to serving patients of all ethnicities, and took a major PBM to federal court and won.