Commentary: Proposed state legislation on 340B drug pricing program won't help
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When something isn't working, we look to our leaders to fix it. But it's important to know where the fix should be made — and that's why I am grateful that last year, New York lawmakers did not rush through proposals that could have worsened a bad situation for a federal program known as 340B.
These same proposals are on the table again in Albany this session — but this isn’t New York’s problem to solve. Here’s why.
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Under 340B, started in the 1990s, prescription drug manufacturers who want their products to be available to Medicaid and Medicare enrollees must provide hospitals with medications at a significant discount. In turn, the hospitals were to use the 340B medications to provide care for uninsured and indigent patients in their communities.
In 2010, the government redefined who qualifies for the steep 340B discounts, thus expanding the number of organizations that could purchase medications at that discounted rate. That sent the number of qualified hospitals and 340B “contract pharmacies” that serve those hospitals skyrocketing.
However, there is little regulation to enforce that hospitals follow through on providing the free care for the uninsured and indigent that they’re supposed to. In fact, © Times Union
