W hen 22-year-old Cole Schmidtknecht went to Walgreens to refill his asthma inhaler in 2024, he was shocked to learn that the price had jumped from less than $70 to more than $500 ...

Cole Schmidtknecht, 22, had insurance but couldn’t afford to refill his asthma inhaler after the cost jumped from $70 to more than $500 at his pharmacy.

Cole Schmidtknecht. (Courtesy Schmidtknecht Family) That way, patients don’t learn how PBMs make their decisions about drugs and why a medication that had been on the formulary no longer is.