02 Oct The Hill: No, health costs aren’t rising because of drug discount programs
“Why would a group that claims to hate government waste want to tear down a small federal health-care program that saves taxpayers money? We should first start by following the money.
In The Hill, the group Citizens Against Government Waste tore into the tiny 340B drug discount program, claiming it’s a reason why health care costs are rising. That’s absurd. 340B saves hospitals that serve low-income and rural communities (plus other smaller safety-net health-care providers) around $6 billion a year on medicine.
Hospitals use the savings from the program to provide free or nominally-priced drugs to the large number of poor, uninsured, and under-insured patients they serve. The lower costs of medicine mean that local taxpayers that support these hospitals and clinics don’t get hit with property tax hikes. While the discounts amount to only 1 percent of the total U.S. drug market, they provide a lifeline to communities big and small.”
