Independent pharmacy groups defend Iowa PBM law in federal court
By HME News Staff
Updated 10:04 AM CDT, Tue October 14, 2025
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A coalition of organizations representing independent pharmacies has filed an amicus brief in federal court supporting Iowa’s regulation of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) – a law currently being challenged by business and insurance groups.
The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), Iowa Pharmacy Association (IPA), American Pharmacists Association (APhA), and Independent Pharmacy Cooperative (IPC) submitted the brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, urging the court to uphold Senate File 383, a state law designed to curb PBM practices that they say are threatening the survival of independent pharmacies.
The law is being defended by Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen, while employer and insurance groups argue that it is preempted by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), which governs employee benefit plans.
However, the pharmacy groups counter that PBMs are not employee benefit plans, but rather third-party administrators, and therefore subject to state regulation.
“It’s a flimsy legal argument that was already unanimously rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2020,” said NCPA CEO B. Douglas Hoey. “Since that decision, almost every state in the country has passed or introduced some kind of PBM reform to stop their egregious practices.”
A lower district court recently issued an injunction preventing Iowa from enforcing the law, prompting the appeal.
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