New NCPA Ad Shows Devastating Consequence of PBM Business Practices

The National Community Pharmacists Association today released a new digital advertisement as part of its ongoing campaign to push lawmakers to enact pharmacy benefit manager reform, which has bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress.

In the ad, Bil and Shanon Schmidtknecht of Wisconsin speak out against PBMs after their 22-year-old son, Cole, went to get his Advair prescription refilled at a chain pharmacy early this year — a medicine he had been taking for a decade — and was told it was suddenly over $500. He had to make the decision to pay his rent or pay for his expensive medicine. A few days later, he had an asthma attack, and on the way to the ER he went into cardiac arrest. He died a few days later.

Like most Americans, Bil and Shanon hadn’t heard of a PBM previously or had much reason to think about them. That radically changed when Cole died because he couldn’t afford his medication due to a PBM-insurer’s formulary decision, which was driven by profit versus health care. “We all as Americans deserve medication that our doctors and us have decided is in our best interest,” Shanon says in the ad. “People’s lives, their health care, their wellbeing doesn’t have a price tag on it.”

Bil, who also has asthma and takes Advair, experienced a similar issue later on. In his case, however, an independent pharmacist took the extra time to navigate the payment maze and find a solution.

The Schmidtknechts are making it their mission to get PBM reform done. Bil reached out to NCPA in August to strategize and coordinate. In addition to their participation in the digital ad, in September the Schmidtknechts traveled to Washington, D.C., with NCPA and the PBM Accountability Project for meetings with numerous members of Congress and officials from the Biden administration. Bil will also be attending NCPA’s Annual Convention in October to help finish the fight for reform.