Show Your Support For 340B Reform
Members of Congress
The 340B program is broken – big, tax-exempt hospitals and clinics abuse this program to charge huge markups on medicines.
Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana continues to lead the way on 340B reform, protecting us all from 340B program abuse and marked-up costs.
Reform of the 340B program would not be possible without the leadership of our lawmakers in Washington. That is why it is important that we speak up and show support for their efforts.
Sign the petition to show your support for essential 340B reform in Washington.
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To:
Members of Congress
From:
[Your Name]
We want to bring attention to abuses surrounding the 340B Drug Pricing Program and ask for your help in protecting vulnerable patients who deserve to benefit from the program. It is with our shared community in mind that I urge you to support measures that promote accountability and transparency in the 340B program — not policies that are giveaways to PBMs, chain pharmacies and hospitals.
The federal 340B program was designed to help expand access to discounted medicines for low-income, uninsured and otherwise vulnerable patients. However, large nonprofit hospitals are using 340B to buy medicines at a 60% discount but charge higher prices for both uninsured and insured patients. And they are using hundreds of thousands of chain pharmacies to expand their use of the program and increase their profits. The nation’s three largest PBMs – CVS Health, Express Scripts and OptumRx – along with Walgreens and Walmart control more than 75% of the pharmacy contracts with 340B providers. Weak oversight of the program is allowing these large corporations to use the 340B program as a profit driver.
Moreover, the 340B program is not helping the very patients it was meant to serve. Two-thirds of 340B disproportionate share hospitals are not located in medically underserved areas, and as the program has expanded, growth of contract pharmacies has concentrated in affluent neighborhoods while the share of 340B pharmacies in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods has declined. Charity care levels at 340B hospitals are also on a downward trend. In fact, 340B profit exceeds charity care spending for 85% of disproportionate share hospitals participating in the program.
Congress meant for 340B to expand access to treatments for vulnerable, low-income patients and not to boost corporate profit margins.
I urge you to support improvements to the 340B program and ensure that large hospitals, PBMs and chain pharmacies are not empowered to continue abusing it at the expense of vulnerable patients and communities in need.
Thank you for your leadership in protecting patients and your attention to this critical issue.