Sally Greenberg, CEO of the National Consumers League, said patients are being strapped with baffling medical bills and no direct way to get assistance, and that the 340B drug pricing program is part of the problem.
NCL polling found that medical debt has affected most U.S. adults, with nearly half incurring this debt after receiving a surprise bill from a hospital or provider. More than half of surveyed adults said they skipped future treatments or drained their savings when faced with medical debt, according to a letter to the editor published by KFF Health News.
The same letter noted a correlation between hospitals that pursue medical debt and those participating in the 340B program. While 340B was intended to help hospitals reduce costs for vulnerable patients through discounted medications, hospitals in this program reportedly pursue aggressive medical debt collection practices at higher rates than their non-340B counterparts.
A 2024 report by the Alliance for Integrity and Reform of 340B found that 85 percent of disproportionate share hospitals, the large safety-net facilities that dominate 340B participation, earn more in 340B profit than they spend on charity care. In 2022, those hospitals earned $44 billion in 340B profit but spent only $18 billion on charity care, meaning just 42 cents of every dollar in 340B profit went back to patients. In 18 states and Washington, D.C., every single DSH hospital earned more in 340B profit than it spent on charity care, according to the report.
Sally Greenberg has served as CEO of the National Consumers League since 2007. NCL is America's oldest nonprofit consumer and worker advocacy organization, founded in 1899 and working to protect social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad, according to the group’s website.
