Marty Schladen Explains Ohio’s Pharmacy Benefit Manager Crisis and Drug Pricing Reform

Common Sense Ohio · May 7, 2025 · 1h 9m

This story may be one of the unknowns to Ohioans, but we look into the hidden world of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), broken healthcare incentives, and the collapse of community pharmacies.

We welcome Marty Schladen from Ohio Capital Journal back to the podcast.

AND we took a detour through Ohio’s energy controversy and—yes—why Alcatraz is back in the headlines.

3 Key Takeaways:

PBMs & Hidden Healthcare Costs: The lack of transparency with pharmacy benefit managers drives up prices for everyone, even leading to $250M in excess costs in Ohio Medicaid alone. It’s a tangle of rebates, “safe…