Improving Access to Medicines for People Living with Mental Illness

Getting access to the medications you need shouldn’t be hard. Unfortunately, health insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) keep adding new obstacles that patients have to overcome just to get the medications they need at their local pharmacy. Learn more about how we can change the current system by limiting the control of these dominant healthcare organizations.

Did you know that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs):

Decide which medications are covered and what you will pay out-of-pocket?
Work with insurance companies to negotiate private discounts and rebates on your medications, but aren’t required to pass those savings along to patients?
Can dictate which pharmacies you’re allowed to get your medications at, creating barriers to access and placing a lot of financial strain on local, rural pharmacies?

During this 45-minute webinar, Dr. Madelaine Feldman, a rheumatologist and patient advocate, discusses how insurance coverage can limit access and impact patient out-of-pocket costs. She also dives into ways that we can change the status quo by advancing important PBM reforms that better serve patients.

Dr. Feldman is joined by Alfred Pence, pharmacist from Stanford, Kentucky, and owner of Coleman’s Drug Store, an independent, small-town, family-run business since 1913. As a rural pharmacist, Mr. Pence is currently unable to fill his daughter’s prescriptions or administer her vaccines because of restrictions determined by PBMs and insurance companies.

This moderated webinar also includes a Q&A session, covering questions submitted by the audience.