340B Drug Pricing Program Contributes to Rising Healthcare Costs and Is Ripe for Reform
The U.S. House Energy & Commerce Committee's Health Subcommittee today will host the third hearing in its health care affordability series, specifically examining the role providers and hospitals play in shaping the cost of care for Americans.
While the hearing will likely examine numerous issues, there is none more ripe for reform than the flawed 340B drug pricing program.
Originally enacted to help eligible safety-net providers buy medicines at steep discounts and pass the savings on to lower-income and vulnerable patients, the program has ballooned as a revenue stream for many participating hospitals and contract pharmacy chains.
As the size and complexity of the 340B program has expanded, participating hospitals and contract pharmacies have instead used the program to increase…[more]
Federal bureaucracies’ runaway self-expansion has reached such extremes that the United States Supreme Court stands poised to overturn the longstanding doctrine of “Chevron Deference” toward them in one of its most anticipated rulings this term.
In a new and even more egregious escalation of federal administrative abuse, however, the Biden Administration National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) doesn’t merely seek to exploit an alleged statutory ambiguity, which lies at the core of “Chevron Deference.”
No, in…
