Eliminate Fraud and Abuse before Considering Socialist Price Controls for Medicine

The Trade Alliance to Promote Prosperity recently signed onto a letter in response to a request for comments from U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander and U.S. Representative Greg Walden regarding modernization of the 340B drug pricing program. Read the letter here.

In the letter, we asked that the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee provide a clear statutory definition of a 340B patient, change the definition of eligible hospitals, and refocus the program on patient affordability. We believe this would help to ensure that the 340B program fulfills its original mission of helping indigent Americans gain access to important medicines, rather than contributing the heavier healthcare burdens on taxpayers.

The original intent of the 340B program was to provide significant discounts to health providers and for those discounts of between 20 and 50 percent to “stretch scarce federal resources as far as possible, reaching more eligible patients and providing more comprehensive services.” Unfortunately, due to unclear legislation and other factors, the program has grown to be enormous and has become vulnerable to abuse.

At a time when some policymakers are calling for importing drugs from abroad, and thereby importing other countries’ socialist pricing policies, which we oppose, we believe it would be wiser to focus on eliminating fraud and abuse here at home. If we could eliminate fraud and abuse in domestic drug pricing, then perhaps no one would feel the need to talk about importing socialized medicine. That is why we have signed the letter to Sen. Alexander and Rep. Walden.