Vicksburg Pharmacists speak at the Capitol urging lawmakers to reform PBM laws that are forcing them out of business

JACKSON, Miss — Vicksburg pharmacists and others spoke at a press conference in Jackson urging lawmakers to reform Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) laws.

Locally owned pharmacies all across America are being forced out of business in large part due to laws that favor PBM’s. The current law allow PBMs to manage how and how much local pharmacies are paid for filling prescriptions. As a result, locally owned pharmacies in Mississippi and nationwide are disappearing at an alarming rate.

“According to the Mississippi Board of Pharmacy there have been an average of 20 pharmacies per year close in Mississippi over the last 4 years,” said Matt Hendrix of Helping Hand Family Pharmacy in Vicksburg.

Locally, People’s Drugs in downtown Vicksburg ceased operations in November 2024 after over 100 years in business.

“When Helping Hand Pharmacy first opened, there were 9 independent pharmacies in Vicksburg, now there are 2. Most recently Peoples Drug Store was forced to close,” said Hendrix. “Peoples had been in business for over 100 years. This is a pharmacy that survived the Great Depression and a World War, but they couldn’t survive the PBM’s.”

The press event at the Capitol was held to urge lawmakers to pass Senate Bill 2677 which will increase transparency, legislate prompt payment and levelized payouts from PBMs. The bill passed the Senate and is now in the House. Vicksburg is represented in the State Senate by Briggs Hopson, in the house by Kevin Ford and Oscar Denton. You can contact them by clicking their names.

“Pharmacy benefit managers, also known as PBMs, have been monopolizing the industry and making it hard for independent pharmacists to compete and ultimately, to continue serving our communities effectively,” said Michael Jones, owner of Helping Hand Family Pharmacy here in Vicksburg. “Whatever they pay me, or any of the people standing behind me, they pay themselves 22 times more than that.”

John Storey, owner of Battlefield Drugs in Vicksburg told the Vicksburg Daily News that payments sometimes take up to six months or more and oftentimes don’t cover the cost of a prescription. The impact is the locally owned pharmacy is cash strapped while waiting on an uncertain payment amount. This cash flow shortage and underpayment for prescriptions from the PBMs has caused locally owned pharmacies to go out of business.

In addition to the cash flow issues, PBMs often pay substantially more to large chain pharmacies than they do to local pharmacies for identical prescriptions. The chart below, from Helping Hand Family Pharmacy, highlights some of the payment discrepancies paid to Bell’s Family Pharmacy in Tate, Georgia. Large chains have more outlets and are in a position to negotiate a better price for the payout.

PBMs spend a lot of their money Lobbying elected officials

In a post on social media, Helping Hand Family Pharmacist shared a graphic showing donations from PBM Corporations to Mississippi elected politicians. In 2023, the Centene Corporation donated $312,000 to Mississippi’s elected representatives. That includes $100,000 to Tate Reeves, $25,000 to Delbert Hosemann, $10,000 to Mike Cheney, $5000 to Briggs Hopson, and $2500 to Kevin Ford.

United Health Group also donated $1000 to Chaney, Ford, and Hopson in 2023.

Here is the full text spoken at the event by Matt Hendrix of Helping Hand:

“I’m Matt Hendrix and I’m a pharmacist with Helping Hand Family Pharmacy in Vicksburg. I wanted to briefly talk to you about the detrimental impact that PBM’s have had on pharmacies in Mississippi, and by extension our patients and customers. PBM abuses of independent pharmacies are well documented, and Michael will touch on that later, so I won’t go into detail here. What I do want to cover is how communities are affected when pharmacies close. According to the Mississippi Board of Pharmacy there have been an average of 20 pharmacies per year close in Mississippi over the last 4 years. That’s 80 less pharmacies in the state to serve our patients and communities. Many of these pharmacies were in rural areas. The pharmacies in these areas often served the poorest of our citizens. Can you imagine the pharmacies in Fayette, Port Gibson, Rolling Fork, Marks, or Durant closing? Some of these patients would have over an hour round trip drive just to have a simple antibiotic filled for their sick child. This is called a pharmacy desert, and they already exist right here in Mississippi. It’s a reality that Mississippi citizens shouldn’t have to face in 2025 just so some lawmakers can appease the out of state interests of PBM’s.

Vicksburg, where I am from, has always had a strong tradition of locally owned, independent drug stores, but those days are numbered. When Helping Hand Pharmacy first opened, there were 9 independent pharmacies in Vicksburg, now there are 2. Most recently Peoples Drug Store was forced to close. Peoples had been in business for over 100 years. This is a pharmacy that survived the Great Depression and a World War, but they couldn’t survive the PBM’s. Peoples drug store serviced a predominantly poorer part of Vicksburg and offered same-day delivery to their customers, many of whom couldn’t drive. Do you think CVS is going to bring these same customers their flu medication the day their doctor calls it in for them?

The pharmacists that own and work at independent pharmacies are the people that sponsor your kids baseball teams. These are the people that you can call to open up for you on holidays when your child broke their arm and needs their pain medicine filled. These are the people that meet the hospice nurse after hours to fill the medicine to comfort your loved one in their final moments. I know my customers by name and greet them as they come in the door. I can guarantee you that these same customers would be nothing more than a prescription number at whatever pharmacy their PBM tried to steer them to.

We urge our legislators to champion legislation like Senate Bill 2677, the pharmacy benefit prompt pay act, to protect the patients that we serve. Please help us stand up to these powerful special interest groups. Be as courageous as our neighbors in Arkansas, Louisiana, and other states that have passed legislation to limit PBM’s abusive practices. Together we can ensure that all Mississippians have access to fair, affordable, and reliable healthcare.”

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Editor’s note – a correction was made to the original story regarding payouts to local and large chain pharmacies and to update contact information for local representatives.