Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy praises high court's ACA ruling

Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy CEO Edith Rosato issued a statement on Thursday concerning the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in King vs. Burwell and its effects on patients covered under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

"The U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the contested language in the ACA is positive news for millions of Americans who will continue to have access to affordable prescription drugs, a benefit that many of us take for granted,” Rosato said.

If the court had ruled for the plaintiffs, 6.4 million people nationwide would have lost subsidies worth $1.7 billion per month, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) said. Subsidized enrollees would have seen their premiums increase by 287 percent on average, KFF said.

“AMCP would now like to see Congress explore solutions that could make the ACA and the entire U.S. health care system work even better,” Rosato said. “AMCP's roughly 7,000 members are well positioned to help achieve the aims of the 2010 ACA and any future reforms. Managed-care pharmacy professionals, who design and deliver pharmacy benefits for approximately 200 million Americans, work each day to improve health outcomes while also lowering costs."

AMCP is a national professional association of pharmacists and other health care practitioners.