House amendment to Healthcare Act mandates gov’t rely on private sector pharmacies

The House of Representatives’ Health Committee amended clauses of the Universal Healthcare Act that would require government healthcare regulators to buy meds from private sector pharmacies instead of opening their own — effectively shielding private pharmacies from government competition in the health insurance plan. The committee’s deputy chair Ayman Abul Ela said that having the market for pharmacies is saturated as it is, and government competition would hurt already well-established companies, Al Mal reports.