PBM Kickback Prohibition Act

This bill amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to prohibit pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) from paying kickbacks for business related to health plans. Sec. 2, Prohibition on pharmacy benefit manager kickbacks: The bill adds a new rule to existing law. Under this rule, a PBM that provides pharmacy benefit management services to a health plan cannot pay any compensation to anyone for referring, recommending, placing, retaining, renewing, or accessing the plan's business. It also bans payments for including the plan in contracting processes like requests for proposals, market checks, evaluations, or design of business volume or value. The rule looks at the real economic substance of a payment, not just how it is labeled. Any payment from a PBM to a broker, consultant, or similar entity is assumed to be for such prohibited activities unless the parties have written proof that the payment is fair market value for actual services and not related to those activities. The effective date is for plan years starting after the bill becomes law.