The American Benefits Council has announced its support of legislation that would reform the federal 340B drug pricing program.
340B was designed to enable health care organizations to purchase outpatient drugs at significantly reduced prices, which helps them provide care for low-income and uninsured patients. However, employers, working families and taxpayers are shouldering a significant cost of the program’s expansion, while the program is failing to sufficiently benefit the vulnerable patients it was intended to serve, according to a research paper published by the council earlier this year.
“By offering health coverage to almost 180 million Americans, employers are a key stakeholder in legislative efforts to amend the 340B program,” said Ilyse Schuman, senior vice president, health and paid leave policy, for the council. “The council has strong concerns that the growth of the 340B program is raising costs for employers and working families by fueling hospital-physician consolidation, affecting discounts in the commercial market and promoting increased use of higher-cost therapies.”
The 340B ACCESS Act, introduced in the House by Reps. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., and Diana Harshberger, R-Tenn, would establish critical oversight and transparency in the 340B program while providing clear, practical and achievable solutions.
“As a pharmacist, I know how critical it is to keep medicines and care affordable,” Harshbarger said. “That’s why I’m proud to partner with Congressman Carter on the 340B ACCESS Act that would implement commonsense reforms to inject much-needed transparency and oversight into the 340B program and protect and strengthen it for rural and safety-net providers in Tennessee and across the country.”
The legislation was introduced after the Congressional Budget Office released a report examining the factors contributing to the growth in the program and the impact on the federal budget. The report’s findings add further evidence that the program has veered far from its mission and is raising costs for payers, patients and the government, Schuman said.
“The CBO report reinforces these concerns and underscores the need for Congress to act to restore the 340B program to its original intent of helping vulnerable patients in underserved communities,” she said. “Reforms like those contained in the 340B ACCESS Act would refocus the program on serving vulnerable patients as intended and target the factors contributing to the program’s explosive growth, thereby lowering costs for employers, working families and taxpayers.”
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