DES MOINES, Iowa (IOWA CAPITAL DISPATCH) – Iowa’s largest health insurer, Wellmark Blue Cross-Blue Shield, is suing the Iowa insurance commissioner to block enforcement of a new state law that attempts to regulate pharmacy benefit managers. Earlier this year, state lawmakers and the governor approved Senate File 383, which regulates pharmacy benefit managers, employee benefit plans, insurance carriers, and other third-party payors that provide or administer prescription drug benefits.

The Iowa Association of Business and Industry filed a lawsuit in June to block enforcement of the new law. On July 21, 2025, a federal judge ruled the law was, in some respects, illegal and invalid and issued an injunction blocking its enforcement. However, that court ruling was limited in that it prevents the state from enforcing the law only against the plaintiff in the case, ABI, and its members and contractors.

In its newly filed lawsuit over Senate File 383, Wellmark notes that nowhere in the ABI ruling did the court suggest that non-parties to that case were precluded from similarly challenging any future enforcement efforts, although the injunction in the ABI case is currently on appeal to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. In its lawsuit against Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen, Wellmark says the scope of the injunction raises the question of whether Ommen can “legitimately seek to enforce” the new law.

Wellmark argues, on Sept. 24, 2025, Ommen issued guidance in the form of a bulletin indicating he believes he is “obligated” to enforce the new law “in its entirety” against all regulated entities who were not plaintiffs in the ABI case. In addition, Wellmark says, the commissioner recently asked Wellmark for information regarding the new law’s implementation, signaling possible investigatory and enforcement efforts. The insurer says its legal action will help prevent “many piecemeal complaints” being filed to extend the ruling in the ABI case to others who weren’t part of that lawsuit.

In addition to Wellmark Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Iowa, the plaintiffs in the case include affiliates Wellmark Inc., Wellmark Health Plan of Iowa, and Wellmark of South Dakota. The Iowa Insurance Division and Ommen have yet to file a response to the lawsuit, and the Iowa Capital Dispatch was unable Thursday to reach the division’s spokesperson for comment.

Wellmark is Iowa’s largest provider of health insurance and related administrative services, and also is Iowa’s largest provider of health insurance for individuals, such as those served by the health insurance exchange through the Affordable Care Act. According to the company, through its plans and policies, Wellmark now serves more than 800,000 people in Iowa.