Capitol Weekly: Two simple fixes for higher drug prices

By Julie Gill Shuffield, Patients Come First California’s Executive Director

There are many barriers to equitable health care in California, the cost of prescription drugs being central among them. As legislators and advocates for the state’s underserved populations call for solutions, however, they’re overlooking two easy options that can make a big difference.

One of the biggest problems involves misuse of a program meant to make medications more affordable —the “340B Program.”  It was created to help the most vulnerable get access to medicines by providing covered entities (hospitals) with discounted drugs. Due to a lack of transparency, however, some large players in the healthcare system are choosing to profit at the expense of patients.

These bad actors buy deeply discounted prescription drugs and instead of passing the savings to patients, they charge higher prices and pocket the difference. There’s very little evidence that any financial relief from 340B has benefited patients, but many examples of hospitals and contracted pharmacy partners benefiting from the profits. As evidence, a study by the Drug Channels Institute estimated CVS Health, Walgreens, Cigna and UnitedHealth collectively made $3.2 billion and $2.9 billion in 2022 and 2023, respectively, in profits from the 340B program.

Read the full op-ed in Capitol Weekly here.