Happy Easter and Passover! Congress continues to be on recess this coming week. The President will release his FY 2014 budget on April 10, over two months late, and an FEHBP oversight hearing will occur on Capitol Hill the next day.

The FEHBlog was intrigued to read in the Wall Street Journal that retail drugstores are pressing state legislatures, most notably in Oregon, to require prescription drug managers “to turn over arcane pricing data that would help drugstores negotiate bigger reimbursements.” Of course, the laws would help the large chains too and push to old cost curve up. PCMA, the PBM trade association has more details here.

While on that topic, the Hill’s Healthwatch reports on a Consumer Reports price comparison of generic drug prices. For example, it found that reported that a month’s supply of generic Lipitor, the anti-cholesterol drug, cost $17 at Costco and $150 at CVS.  Of course, generic lipitor could have been a loss leader at CostCo that month. Most consumers of course don’t pay retail for generic drugs because they have health plan or Medicare Part D coverage.  That brings us back to the Oregon bill. Have a good holiday.