Reasonable & Pragmatic – and a great deal for Taxpayers
AUSTIN, Texas (Texas Insider Report) — Political chatter nationwide is focused on cutting Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in the Federal Government. Contrary to what many Democrats and progressives are asserting, this is a good thing – and long overdue. However, as those doing the cutting proceed, they need to be cautious not to be tricked into eliminating programs that save taxpayers money, instead of costing them dearly.
Currently, the pharmaceutical industry is pushing for dramatic cuts to a bill passed by a bipartisan Congress, and signed into law by George Herbert Walker Bush in 1992, called 340B. As a drug discount program, 340B costs taxpayers exactly zero dollars and stands as a critical support for healthcare providers serving low-income, rural, and underserved communities across the United States.
For conservatives, preserving this program is essential – not only on a national level, but also within the state of Texas where its impact is profoundly felt, especially in MAGA communities.
For conservatives, preserving this program is essential – not only on a national level, but also within the state of Texas where its impact is profoundly felt, especially in MAGA communities.Here is how 340B works.
First, 340B requires the Pharmaceutical Industry to sell their products at a discount to certified healthcare providers. But – and this is critical – this isn’t some random, arbitrary obligation government has imposed on drugmakers. They can in fact opt out of it – but if they don’t, they gain access to billions by selling their drugs to the Medicare & Medicaid markets.
Simply put, 340B amounts to taxpayers saying,
“If you get to bill us for supplying medication, you have to make drugs available to hospitals serving communities facing tough health and economic challenges at a discount.”
This is entirely reasonable and pragmatic – and it’s a great deal for taxpayers.
This is entirely reasonable and pragmatic – and it’s a great deal for taxpayers.
Second, certified providers use 340B savings to stretch their scarce resources to support more critical care services and dispense medications at a discount to patients who need help.
340B hospitals can also use the money to buy essential equipment, pay doctors and nurses, and ensure they can continue serving patients – many of whom are rural, working-class Texans who overwhelmingly voted for President Trump last year.
Here in Texas, those savings are used to ensure chronic disease treatment and management, emergency care, and maternity care.
Who wants a situation in which there are no local options in the event of an emergency?
Here in Texas, those savings are used to ensure chronic disease treatment and management, emergency care, and maternity care.
Who wants a situation in which there are no local options in the event of an emergency?
The simple fact is, without 340B the providers who serve patients like so many rural Texans would be at risk of mass closure.
Actual hands-on healthcare for those patients would evaporate.
Or to keep them open, a bailout for Rural Hospitals would be needed. That would benefit drug companies, but it wouldn’t benefit Texans, or taxpayers, who just spent four years bearing the brunt of Democrats’ high-tax, high-spend policies.
Who wants a redux of the bank bailouts of the 2000s or the COVID bailouts of the Biden years – all so drugmakers can be even more profitable?In an environment where Democrats are working overtime to turn conservatives against their own interests, we must not fall for the trickery of increasingly Democrat-aligned industries, including when it comes to 340B. It is an effective tool in holding Big Pharma accountable, supporting rural, working-class patients and providers, and preventing further economic strain on American taxpayers.
This is literally why in recent years states with conservative, MAGA Governors & Legislatures have been taking the extra step of protecting 340B, even in the face of an avalanche of lawsuits brought by pharmaceutical giants to try to squash their efforts.
Now is exactly the time for Texas to move to protect 340B, and ensure our Senators and Representatives in Congress do too.
It's time for all of us to ensure that those working tirelessly to root out waste, fraud and abuse in Washington, D.C. do not fall for the “fake news” that is spread.
Preserving 340B is essential – especially for red America and MAGA voters – and it’s the best way to protect taxpayers too.
