On October 6, 2020, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association. The issue in this case is whether states have the right to regulate pharmacy benefit managers, or PBM’s. Leslie Rutledge, Arkansas’s Attorney General, has petitioned the court to overturn the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth District’s prior decision to maintain Arkansas’ statute regulating PBMs’ drug reimbursement rates. Rutledge argues the statute is preempted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.
Max Schulman joins us to discuss this case’s oral arguments. Schulman is an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.