Washington, DC (May 28, 2024) – AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) opposes any initiative championed by ASAP 340B, drug companies, or NACHC that adulterates the original intent of the 340B statute.
Today, the Alliance to Save 340B (ASAP 340B), the corrupt partnership between the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) and the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), unveiled their plan for the future of the 340B Drug Pricing Program. U.S. Representative Larry Bucshon (R-IN) introduced the 340B ACCESS Act, which aids and abets the desire of drug companies to shrink the program to generate greater profits. If the legislation ever becomes law, the health outcomes of medically underserved Americans will suffer.
NACHC has aligned itself with the same drug companies determined to dismantle 340B. By doing so, NACHC sold out nonprofit hospitals simply to delay the inevitable. There is no legislative grand bargain that will end PhRMA’s assault on the program. No deal will satisfy drug companies, and eventually, they will fix their sights on community health clinics and other 340B federal grantees. With the newly announced legislation, NACHC hopes to convince other nonprofit healthcare providers to join its suicide mission.
The legislation is dead on arrival in the Senate. Lawmakers from rural states know it will destroy their few remaining sole and critical access hospitals, further expanding care deserts for already vulnerable populations. In March, U.S. Representative Doris Matsui (D-CA) offered the best way to protect the program and patients when she introduced the 340B PATIENTS Act. Legislators in both chambers of the U.S. Congress looking to protect 340B should support legislation that protects nonprofit providers from drug makers intent on undermining the program.
