As a former director for United Food & Commercial Workers Local 99 and a trustee on our Unions Health and Welfare Plan, I know how important a union’s medical plan is to a worker and his or her family, especially when it comes to prescription drug benefits.

As out-of-pocket costs for medications continue to rise, we need solutions to ensure that Arizonans get the affordable coverage they need and deserve.

One critical solution would be increased transparency from pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, which are the middlemen who negotiate prescription drug prices between drugmakers and insurance plans.

They often are the sole decider in whether a prescription is covered or not, giving them tremendous power over the health care system and our health.

The result is an obscure and ambiguous drug pricing system that benefits PBMs, while leaving patients to pay higher costs at the pharmacy counter. Oftentimes, discounts and coupons that a drugmaker provides are pocketed by PBMs rather than being passed through to the consumer.

And PBMs use loopholes to impose hefty fees and clawbacks on small and independent pharmacies — sometimes driving local pharmacies out of business.

These are just some of the many ways PBMs take advantage of our system. The good news is our lawmakers can help.

Sen. Sinema holds tremendous influence in the Senate, and it is my hope that she will work to clean up the unfair practices of PBMs so we can finally combat a major driver of high drug costs.

Thank you.