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Defending the power of our states since 2009
In a recent op-ed, Trent England explains why Georgia state legislators should demand transparency for the 340(b) drug pricing program.
As healthcare costs rise, Georgia state legislators are looking for solutions. So are families and employers who bear the brunt of price hikes. They all deserve to know the truth about a shadowy federal drug program that is growing fast and pushing up insurance premiums and other costs. That’s why I testified last month at a Georgia House Study Committee on prescription drug pricing.
A takeaway from the hearing at Macon’s Mercer School of Medicine is that too many government “solutions” have only made things worse. That’s particularly true of what is called the 340(b) drug pricing program. This federal policy from 35 years ago has ballooned into a seriously flawed, heavily manipulated price-fixing scheme that mostly benefits big tax-exempt hospital corporations.
It started with Congress attempting to fix a problem that Congress had created. In 1990, Congress enacted a program to fix prices for some prescription drugs. The scheme actually pushed some prices higher, because drug manufacturers already had discount programs for low-income patients. Congress responded in 1992 by creating 340(b), requiring that manufacturers sell certain drugs at extremely low prices to clinics treating very sick, very poor patients.
Read the full op-ed at James Magazine Online.