JUPITER, Fla. — Florida's governor on Wednesday visited Jupiter and signed legislation that he said will reform "problematic practices" in the pharmaceutical industry.
Speaking at Florida Atlantic University's MacArthur campus, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Prescription Drug Reform Act into law, which puts restrictions on pharmacy benefit managers, which are third-party administrators that negotiate discounts with drug makers and contracts with pharmacies.
"We think that health care is too expensive. Prescription drugs are too expensive," DeSantis said. "What I think you see in our health care system is you see a lot of bureaucracy, red tape. And people are making money off this system that aren't really providing value to the system."
WATCH: Florida's governor announces prescription drug reform
DeSantis said PBMs control 80% of the prescription drug market.
The legislation reforms several practices used by PBMs including spread pricing — when they charge health care plans and consumers more for prescriptions drugs than what they actually reimburse to the pharmacy, according to DeSantis — along with drug "steering."
"They will try to say, OK, you have to get your drugs though a mail order pharmacy that they control," DeSantis said. "PBMs can't steer you to their vertically integrated mail. If you want to go to your local pharmacy and get it, then you should have a right to be able to do that."
The new law also adds additional transparency to the prescription drug process by revealing specific explanations about why certain drug prices are increasing.
According to DeSantis, drug makers raised prices on more than 1,400 drugs in 2022, the most since 2015.
