We Question Rep. Buddy Carter’s Affection for 340B

For years, U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) has been a strident critic of the 340B Drug Discount Program. He has reliably echoed Big Pharma’s talking points, calling it "plagued by abuse" and acting as the industry’s favorite foot soldier on Capitol Hill.

But a funny thing happens when a career politician sets his sights on higher office in the United States Senate: The talking points start to sound more Georgia-first than Pharma-first.

During a recent House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health hearing, Rep. Carter, now a Senate candidate, went to great lengths to insist he isn't the 340B hatchetman his record suggests. "I’m very passionate about this," he claimed. "Don’t be telling people I’m opposed to it... I want to make it better."

We welcome the congressman’s newfound affection for a program he spent a decade trying to dismantle. Unfortunately, his policy hasn't caught up to his new talking points. The 340B ACCESS Act he has co-sponsored isn't a fix, it’s a poison pill for the very clinics and nonprofit hospitals he claims to support.

Carter also continues to push the misleading claim that 340B was designed solely as a "patient program.” Congress intentionally created 340B to provide the financial breathing room that allows safety-net hospitals to cover the massive costs of treating the underinsured and uninsured. To suggest otherwise isn’t just a misunderstanding of history; it’s a deliberate attempt to shift the narrative back in favor of the pharmaceutical giants.

So, why is the congressman trying to put daylight between himself and his longtime allies in the drug industry? The answer is simple: political survival.

It is nearly impossible to run as a "populist" Republican while sitting in Big Pharma’s lap. In today’s political climate, drug companies are arguably the most hated industry in the country. President Trump has made lowering medicine costs a core part of his "America First" agenda, and Candidate Carter clearly realizes that being "Pharma’s Congressman" is a massive liability at the ballot box. He wants the populist credit without doing the populist work.

There are dozens of hospitals in Georgia that rely on the 340B program. These aren't "bad actors"; they are life-support systems for rural and underserved communities. In many parts of Georgia, 340B is the only thing keeping the local emergency room from closing its doors.

We hope Rep. Carter’s pro-340B lip service lasts past the first Tuesday in November. But until he pulls his support for legislation that guts the program, his words are just campaign noise.

It’s time for Buddy Carter to decide whether he represents his constituents or his donors.