VIEWPOINT | 340B Drug Pricing Program drives health costs up for small businesses
Guest column by Karen Kerrigan
Small business owners are struggling to keep up with the rising cost of health care. Nearly a third have stopped offering health benefits as premiums continue to climb.
It is critical that lawmakers understand the reasons for rising costs and begin to address them – or small businesses will continue to drop health coverage due to unsustainable costs. One of these reasons is hospitals’ exploitation of a little-known federal charity program. Without reforms, that program will continue to drive up costs for small businesses and the self-employed.
Three decades ago, Congress established the 340B Drug Pricing Program, which allows safety-net hospitals and clinics to purchase discounted drugs. In theory, that allows these providers to use the savings to provide more charity care to poor patients.
