BNB Gets First Look at Major Minnesota Statewide Ad Buy Focused on Recent Reports Showing Abuse of 340B Drug Pricing Program
People Over Profits’ pours six-figures into a hard-hitting message: “Protect your people, not hospital profits. Crack down on 340B abuse
The Big Picture
A Minnesota Department of Health report released earlier this year raised eyebrows when it revealed that the state’s largest corporate hospital system executives are netting over $1 billion annually by exploiting the 340B Drug Pricing Program, a federal program designed to help make medications more affordable for lower income Americans. Hospital executives were purchasing prescription drugs at steep government-mandated discounts, then billing low-income patients and insurers at full price.
Now, a group called People Over Profits, has launched a campaign to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, raising alarms about the abuse and calling on lawmakers in St. Paul to address it.
What the Report Found
According to this report in the Minnesota Star Tribune, the Minnesota Department of Health’s latest 340B transparency report found:
The small safety net clinics that the 340B program was originally designed to serve low-income patients received a fraction of the benefit.
MN pharmacies spent $1.53 billion to acquire drugs, plus $165 million to provide them to patients, then billed private insurers and government programs $3.04 billion, resulting in net revenue of at least $1.34 billion.
The largest, wealthiest hospital systems captured more than $1 billion, representing 80% of total program revenue.
These findings are significant because Congress created the 340B Drug Pricing Program in 1992 in order to fund care for low-income and vulnerable patients. It was not designed to help improve margins for billion-dollar health systems.
The Ad and the Message
People Over Profits’s new ad is airing in the Minneapolis-St Paul media market and is backed by a near $400,000 buy.
The ad spotlights the Minnesota Department of Health report, particularly the details which demonstrate how hospitals are abusing the program: “Fraud and abuse in our health care: unacceptable. A shocking new report shows our hospitals pocketed over $1 billion buying discounted drugs, profiting off patients, charging them double. $1 billion. It’s a broken system, and they’re pushing to keep it that way. The biggest, wealthiest hospitals captured 80% of the profits — not the small safety net clinics that actually need the help.”
The ad closes with a direct challenge to St. Paul lawmakers: “Protect your people, not hospital profits. Crack down on 340B abuse.”
According to the group’s website, “People Over Profits is centering a new conversation to put working people first. It is time for our political conversation to be centered on those who work the hardest, not those who can afford to speak the loudest. It is time for a new focus on working Americans.”
Bottom Line
The 340B program – which is so important for making sure that struggling Minnesotans are able to access affordable medications – is under intense scrutiny.
Minnesota’s biggest hospitals built a $1 billion annual profit center on the back of a program meant for the most vulnerable patients in the state.
This ad is going to draw attention to the program, and lawmakers in St. Paul will need to have answers on how to protect the value of the program for those who need it while also guarding it from exploitation and abuse.