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Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about how much Americans spend on healthcare and how little we actually know about where that money goes.
As a student here in Maine, it’s frustrating to hear constant talk about rising costs without much discussion about accountability. That’s one reason I think efforts to reduce fraud and improve oversight, including those advanced during the Trump administration, deserve more attention than they’re getting.
Take the 340B program for example, a massive federal healthcare program I recently learned about. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the program has grown from $6.6 billion to $43.9 billion over the past ten years. Plus, the program was originally intended to ensure low-income and rural patients could access affordable medicines, but now it’s not even clear that patients are benefiting from it. There’s limited visibility into whether the savings generated are actually reaching patients.
There is a rebate model being considered that really seems like a step in the right direction to me. Instead of upfront discounts that are hard to track, rebates would create a clearer paper trail. That means more accountability, something taxpayers and patients both deserve, and Mainers really value.
This shouldn’t be a partisan issue. When programs get this big, basic transparency isn’t too much to ask. I hope our Maine policymakers support this commonsense way to increase transparency so our community can benefit from the 340B program.
Nedra Bassett
Biddeford