13 Jul Broken Promises, Powerful Voices: 340B Reform Takes Center Stage at the 2026 LATINO Magazine Congressional Forum
On June 3, 2026, the Health Equity Collaborative and other healthcare advocates joined LATINO Magazine’s annual Congressional Forum to host a panel conversation titled, “Broken Promises: How the 340B Program is Failing Latino Communities and What Congress Must Do.” The event brought together Capitol Hill staff, healthcare advocates, and policy leaders for a critical discussion on how the 340B Drug Pricing Program has strayed from its original mission of supporting vulnerable patients.
The panel discussion exposed how a lack of transparency and accountability allows hospitals to profit from the program without translating those gains into clear patient benefits. Speakers emphasized that immediate reform is vital to restore access, lower costs, and improve health outcomes for underserved populations.
How 340B Drifted from Its Original Promise:
Created in 1992, the 340B Drug Pricing Program was designed to improve access to care for low-income, uninsured, and underserved patients by allowing safety-net hospitals and clinics to purchase outpatient drugs at a discount. Those savings were meant to reduce the financial burden of care for vulnerable communities and keep treatment within reach for the patients who need it most.
But growing evidence suggests the program is falling short of that goal. Instead of passing savings on to patients, many hospitals are using the program to boost their own margins, and one of the clearest signs of that gap shows up in how patients are treated when they can’t pay their bills. Recent findings from the National Consumers League show that many 340B hospitals continue aggressive medical debt collection practices despite the significant savings they receive through the program. According to that research, 75% of 340B hospitals may pursue legal action against patients over unpaid bills, compared with 62% of non-340B hospitals, and 72% may report that debt to credit agencies.
The gap between the program’s intent and its impact goes beyond debt collection — it’s also showing up in the price of care itself. Analysis from the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions found commercial prices were roughly 7% higher at large 340B hospitals compared with large non-340B hospitals, adding an estimated $36 billion a year in extra hospital spending for employers.
A nonpartisan assessment by the Congressional Budget Office found that 340B “encourages behaviors…that tend to increase federal spending,” including hospitals integrating more off-site clinics and using higher-priced medicines. Academic research on the program’s growth has reached a similar conclusion from a different angle: Medicaid costs tend to run higher in areas with more 340B activity, and commercial insurance premiums do too — while charity care, the very thing the program is meant to support, shows no consistent increase alongside that growth. In other words, a program built to lower costs for vulnerable patients is, by multiple independent accounts, adding to the cost burden for many of the people paying the bill.
The result is a program operating at odds with its own founding purpose. Vulnerable patients still face lawsuits, damaged credit, and delayed care, while the broader cost of care climbs for everyone else who was supposed to benefit from the savings. As concerns around transparency and accountability grow, the movement to reform 340B is gaining momentum, with advocates calling on Congress to ensure the program benefits patients and true safety-net providers, not hospital profit margins. As we work toward a fairer healthcare system, we must ensure programs like 340B fulfill their original purpose: serving patients, not profits.
Our Panel Speaks Out:
The discussion at the Congressional Forum made one thing clear: patients cannot afford continued Congressional inaction. Each panelist shared a personal call to action on why 340B reform matters for improving patient health and protecting underserved communities. Hear directly from leaders across advocacy and policy as they share their perspectives on accountability, patient access, and the future of the 340B Drug Pricing Program.
Amy L. Hinojosa, President and CEO of MANA — Reform the 340B Program to protect families.
Nick Ferreyros, Managing Director at Community Oncology Alliance — Hospitals’ misuse of 340B dollars increases the cost of everyone’s healthcare.
Sally Greenberg, CEO of the National Consumers League — 340B Program reform will reduce healthcare costs for consumers.
Thomas L. Johnson, Executive Director at ASAP340B — Congress needs to bring transparency to the 340B Program.
To learn more about HEC’s work on 340B reform, explore the resources below.
Resources
- HEC to Congress: The 340B Promise is Broken; Pass Patient-Centered Reform
- Congress Should Reject the 340B Patients Act and Protect Vulnerable Patients
- The 340B Program’s Uneven Expansion: A Health Equity Crisis
- A Broken System: Reforming the Charity Care System in the United States
- Meaningful Hospital Reform is the Path to Healthcare Affordability
Podcast