they own the three largest pbms. responses. >>> coming up, the nhl draft going big and heading to vegas to be the first sports-related event at the sphere. we will speak to the nhl commissioner about that next. before you use ai to transform business, accelerate growth, predict trends, you need to begin with trust. introducing watsonx governance. helping you govern any ai, as data, models, and policies change, so you can scale it responsibly. let's create ai that begins with trust, with watsonx governance. ibm. let's create. if your business needs a new application then developers will have to write code. a lot of code. if an application needs to be modernized then you'll need time, resources... and caffeine. if this sounds daunting then use watsonx code assistant ai designed to multiply developer productivity so you can generate code quickly. let's create a more modern foundation for business, with watsonx code assistant. ibm. let's create. (♪♪) car, this isn't the way home. that's right james, it isn't. car, where

pbm's enrich everyturn.cannot be fooled when the pbm claims to reduce the of drugs by sayingre rebates in exchange for fabl an insurance company they probably ow so frustrated in the past it's like our organization for example, king county someone will say negotiate a drug benefit and we'll give you a discount but then theyds of the discount. these rebates are part of the manipulative scheme to devalue it from the market in a market that is free of this kind of manipulation or competition, you have drugmakers they would be settinghe formulary cost they would help drive down by having competition. but we know the market isn't the least expensive version of a drug is the least dispensed. that's right. you can tell how a market is a great functioning mark pecause is too high and there is supply people more supply in the market. if the least expensive drug dispensed, that means that somebody is trying to costs high. this happens because pbm's control which is marketed and they get a bigger cut, higher copays and

to do that, pbms negotiate discounts or rebates with drug manufacturers. thing is, 80% of the prescription drug market is controlled by just three of them. so it leaves very little competition. critics say pbms artificially inflate drug prices and then pocket the difference of what insurers pay and what pharmacies receive. it's called spread pricing. 13 states have already signed reforms that ban the practice. also, some states are trying to expand on a federal drug discount program. west virginia is the third state to require drug makers to offer low cost medications to pharmacies that are not in the program. arkansas louisiana did the same in recent years. both states were sued over the expansion, but the pharmaceutical research and manufacturers of america lost the fight in arkansas. still ahead on matter of fact, it proclaims power. why? decades ago, he chose a rainbow to be the symbol of the lgbtq community. finally, we mark the end of nice to meet ya. my name is david. i've been a pharmacist for 44 years. when i have customers come in and ask for som

pbm managed one or $59 billion in drug spending last year. provider group that owns roughly one and every 12 doctors in the united states. a bank that makes payday loans to providers. that is just a few of the ventures under your purview. i say this to emphasize the massive responsibility that comes with your position. with the family of fort being crushed by inflation you think they are forking over more than $20000 per year for health insurance senior citizen scenes the aarp brand under medicare products at taxpayer federals tens of billions in subsidies to your company there is a reasonable expectation they will get a baseline level of value for their hard earned money. i will set the bar higher. you have a responsibility to protect the data, the people who put their trust in you. or more bluntly in this case you failed. on february 21st of this year change healthcare announced it was hit with a cyber attack. severely disrupting the healthcare ecosystem for providers, payers and patients that have been more than two months since the cyber

the democrat side, we were able to come■ together at last summer and again last november to advance pbmorms that saved taxpayer dollars in saved money for seniors at the pharmacy counter. we had conversations about topline spending but part of why i respect the united states of care's approach is affordability isn't viewed by a patient as what is medicare paying or what is this budget spreadsheet saying, it is what are they paying out of pocket. there has been an abject failure with respect to how we can get access to the newest, best drugs at an affordable price for seniors, even when they would have 80% or 90% rebates like we saw insulin. as we advance to the committee on a near unanimous and unanimous vote last year set the table fo think policies that are likely to move at the end of this year. we have seen the ways and means committee and members of congress advance some key policies with bipartisan support. even though through the committees are not the same is like getting something enacted and signed into law, and i should say i am speaking only on my own behalf and not for the

you talk about pbms, pbm firms, i look at those different segment, we want to drive transparency, butd the wheel itself is broken. health care itself is $300 billion in just transaction. just all of this data floi flowing back and forth. >> so, is there an app or something that i, as a consumer can access and download, or do i have to wait for my providers to be partnering with you. >> right notice. business to business. the idea is if the provider can get it right with our help up front, you never see any of the downstream, because it's done right. that's the goal, but stay tuned, coming soon. >> what do you think the best version of health care in five years. what is feasible. >> i would love to see a health system without claims. >> so more purely transactional, they say you need this procedure, basically your insurance plan says they're going to cover it, i don't know if they say it as this is how much it costs, but to use the grocery store analogy, what, it's here -- >> here's milk and the price and it will be covered. >> fascinating. i wish you well. >> thank you. >> on behalf o

trying to get costs down for health care. >> fascinating story and the times on sundays about the pbmsver trunk and wiper issues, tesla told the nhtsa that a trim attached to the trunk bed of certain 2024 cybertrucks could fall off creating a hose road hazard. the motor could fail, and reduce visibility, well, yes, if the windshield wiper fails it does reduce visibility. >> it does. there's a cottage industry. i've gotten footage myself. it's not exciting as having pieces fall off. i wanted to be at a red light. this is me, intrepid. >> this is you. >> intrepid. they look -- my favorite part of watching these go, other tesla drivers go by honk the horn and wave. they do look sci-fi. the key question, if they can literally stay intact enough. >> if something doesn't fall off and the droid comes out. >> they wanted to get rid of side mirrors to increase the range, couldn't get approval to do so. >> thank you for being with us. >> thank you for having me, a lot of fun. >> really enjoy it. >> thank you all for being here as well. thanks for watching ""power lunch"". >> "closing bell" start

premiums or the pharmacy itself, then i think they can stick around. >> of course, the three major pbmsd what they call more transparent pricing plans. not sure whether employers will take them up on that, but he's definitely feeling feisty and feeling like this is an area that needs disruption. >> it all does, bertha. thank you very much. we appreciate it. >>> before we head to break, shares of gamestop down about 41% now at the lows. halted more than a dozen times, i think 16 and counting so far in the session. back up to $30 as we're off session lows. more after the break. djusts to earn me more cash back in my top eligible category... suddenly life's feeling a little more automatic. like doors opening wherever i go... [sound of airplane overhead] even the ground is moving for me! y'all seeing this? wild! and i don't even have to activate anything. oooooohhh... automatic sashimi! earn cash back that automatically adjusts to how you spend with the citi custom cash® card. [mind blown explosion noise] how do you find the perfect father's day gift? simple. just type wt.com. weathertech h

through november and we have a lame-dk optimistic or cautiously optimistic tinal move the needle on the pbmnd althnd vtual health protections for folks on medicare, recognizing t is not t payer but the of what most commercial plans will do. we are seeing that with obesity drugs where it is so hard to of the products even if you have the dollars because you will be a sponsored su coverage. medicare can't cover this productrily and my inclination is if we advance policies on that front, supporto and we have a lot of issues to work]d will see commercial payes will follow suit. all that is to say, a lot of great spots on theon, ■ée transparency measures natalie mentioned. i am incredibly optimistic about health care. i don't think it has looked this bipartisan on capitol hill with respect to health care since i as the hill itself looks more like a partisan nightmare that i can ever remember. more specifically it you are ng lf in the house and senate to address consolidn of the health care system overall. you are seeing a lot of hearings, bipartisan hearings in the energy, ways and meanhouse e b

either one talking about pbms?ncy would help. >> no value to the process. pbms. to the cost what you're spending and basically bringing prices down. nothing. >> quickly before we go. who do you think former president trump would choose as his v.p.? who would you like? >> well, i know all the people that are -- i don't know doug as well. i'm partial to governors. okay? i'm partial to anyone who had executive experience. got to make a decision. governor can't be a democrat or republican. got to be governor of their state and make decisions every minute of every day to make life better for constituents. so i think the dark horse might be doug. >> you think ever an opportunity truly for an independent third party candidate? >> we're going to make sure that happens. >> i think one thing on americans together. the reason we started it, we have got to change the incentive structure for politicians. right now it's completely out of whack, and just like a corporation, the incentive structure drives performance. have to chan

lame-duck period, we are optimistic or cautiously optimistic that we can finally move the needle on the pbm reforms and expand and extend telehealth and virtual health protections for folks on medicare, recognizing that medicare is not just the biggest payer but the arbiter of what most commercial plans will do. we are seeing that with obesity drugs where it is so hard to access one of the products even if you have the dollars because of the supply chain issues, but you will be a sponsored insurance and a lot of plans had pulled back coverage. medicare can't cover this product statutorily and my inclination is if we advance policies on that front, there is bipartisan support for doing so and we have a lot of issues to work through. you will see commercial payers will follow suit. all that is to say, a lot of great spots on the horizon, the transparency measures natalie mentioned. i am incredibly optimistic about health care. i don't think it has looked this bipartisan on capitol hill with respect to health care since i can remember, even as the hill itself looks more like a partisan nightma

. >> cvs is facing a lot of same issues if its stores, but it's more diversified with pbm and et in health plans which somewhat offset that brick and mortar. >> on that knew. >> would you about he a here here? >> i think the reductions of the issues is they're at the cross-hairs of potential or continued industry disruption certain on the back end. >> i any there are better places to be than fight this battle. >>> you and i both nose it's have it's moment. last night the company posted sales that narrowly mised expectations. this was a small miss to be clear. even a few months going that still wasn't enough. >> and for the certainty quarter, expecting sales to be up about five, now, tyler, there's something else that could be weighing on the stock here. levi's is in the midst of a strategy shift, selling more directly instead of through partners like determined stores. this strategy has been worked out well for other retailers, so investors may be concerned about that as well. >> anthony, your view on levi's? >> this is another one i think the reaction is a based on too much, in the case o

area is also clearly broken and what they will tell you is, while we give rebates and they do the pbms get a 40% rebate but at the end of the de, the price they still charging after the rebates, much higher in the us than in other countries. and for the average person who doesn't have any insurance, who walks into a drugstore to buy the product, they're going to pay less price if you have co-pays, if you have deductibles, you're gonna pay a hell of a lot of money. so i would hope i really would hold the novo nordisk sits down with us and says, okay, we are not going to end. we're not going to continue to rip off the american people canadians pay 150 bucks we're paying 900 some odd dollars let substantially lowered the price that the american people have to pay for this. >> let's turn to another issue that you care a great deal about today, israeli prime minister netanyahu said he pressed about pending military aid in conversations with us secretary of state antony blinken, who was in israel last week. here's what netanyahu says. he told secretary blinken, take a listen it's been consum

is amendment number 728 the pharmacy amendment that would require any pharmacy benefit manager, any pbm that contracts with track here to meet minimum network adequacy standards and reimbursed pharmacies on based on medicaid, pharmacys. what is happening now is that the company that has been awarded this contract has been diverting patients they've been cutting out independent retail pharmacies which -- which really does impact veterans who are -- have a relationship with their independent retail pharmacies and now are being inconvenience by not being able to go there. it would simply say that they have to reimburse them accordingly with the others that they reimburse as well. in 2022 alone approximately 15,000 15,000 independent pharmacies were excluded from the track pharmacy network in fact, on april 22nd of this year epic pharmacies which consist of approximately 1100 dropped from the network this would prohibit this from doing -- from happening. that's -- that's the least that our veterans deserve. xt fifth amendment that i have is amendment number 220 critical extraction. as you k

part of that is the story of pbm's. the pbm's clawback from pharmacies rebates that did not reach patients and went instead to the pbm's vert gallon integration and unfavorable a 340-b -- offered to 340-b pharmacies have become increasingly common. action taken by the pbm's pharmacies have been forced out of or unable to serve tricare beneficiaries. two years ago tricare began a new contract with express scripts. the new express scripts contract offered interested pharmacy participants -- participants were offered reimbursement rates that were far too low for many of our pharmacies or pharmacists to accept. the pharmacist did not have the ability to ne take-it-or-leave-i without negotiations, countless numbers of kansas could not participate in the new tricare network express scripts. in addition to community farmives of the farmives -- pharmacists dese to serve veterans the cost-of-living adjustments associated with tricare prevented them from doing so. of dispensing a drug are higher than the reimbursement a business