The July 3 opinion editorial in The State Journal-Register on the 340B Drug Pricing Program relies on pharmaceutical industry talking points to mischaracterize the program and direct attention away from the reason Congress created this important program more than 30 years ago: to help hospitals and other safety-net providers stretch limited resources further to expand access to care for vulnerable patients and communities.
The Illinois Patient Access to Pharmacy Protection Act (HB 2371) was nearly unanimously approved with strong bipartisan support by Illinois lawmakers who understood the importance of the 340B program in supporting critical healthcare services across Illinois.
HB 2371 does not expand the 340B program. It does not add new hospitals, new medications or increase the discounts provided through the program. Instead, it protects the ability of eligible hospitals to partner with community pharmacies—a longstanding practice that pharmaceutical manufacturers began restricting in 2020.
Unfortunately, drug manufacturers’ intent is to protect their bottom line, and they have spent years promoting misleading information about 340B to distract from the real issue: the rising cost of prescription drugs.
Importantly, hospitals do not set the price of medications charged by pharmaceutical companies. The reimbursement hospitals receive for medications is determined through negotiations with private insurance companies and reflects, in part, the increasingly high cost of drugs themselves.
Claims that 340B savings must be used only for charity care or direct prescription discounts also misrepresent the program. Congress designed 340B to allow eligible providers to “stretch scarce federal resources” and reach more patients through expanded services.
In Illinois, 340B is not simply a financial mechanism, it is an access enabler that helps sustain oncology programs, behavioral healthcare, trauma services, rural healthcare access, mobile clinics, medication assistance programs and other essential services that may otherwise not be available.
Measuring the value of 340B solely through charity care statistics ignores the broader role hospitals play in their communities. As a Medicaid expansion state, Illinois has one of the nation’s lower uninsured rates with fewer patients relying exclusively on traditional charity care. However, hospitals provide billions of dollars in uncompensated care, underfunded Medicaid services, emergency care and other programs that support patients regardless of their ability to pay.
At its core, this debate is not about hospital finances. It is about whether patients in rural, underserved and vulnerable communities can continue accessing the services they need close to home. Nearly 70% of Illinois’ 340B hospitals are Safety Net Hospitals or Critical Access Hospitals with providers serving communities with some of the greatest healthcare needs.
For these hospitals, protecting 340B means protecting resources that help keep vital services available locally where patients can remain connected to their families, support systems and communities while receiving care.
Assertions that 340B encourages inappropriate prescribing or increases costs for patients and employers are based largely on pharmaceutical industry-funded analyses and ignore the realities of patient care. Treatment decisions, especially for complex conditions like cancer, are guided by physicians, clinical evidence and individual patient needs—not the 340B program.
Illinois hospitals also recognize the importance of accountability and believe transparency and protecting patient access are essential, not competing priorities. That is why hospitals supported HB 4327, which creates new reporting requirements and a statewide study of the 340B program.
More than 20 states have enacted similar protections for 340B contract pharmacy arrangements because lawmakers recognize that without these protections, pharmaceutical manufacturers’ restrictions would mean fewer resources available for patient care.
At a time when hospitals face growing financial pressures, rising workforce costs and increasing demand for care, weakening 340B would only make it harder for providers to meet the needs of the communities they serve.
This debate should be judged not by pharmaceutical manufacturers’ talking points, but by what it means for patients who depend on local access to care. Illinois patients deserve access to care. Protecting 340B helps ensure hospitals can continue delivering it.
A.J. Wilhelmi is the President and CEO of the Illinois Health and Hospital Association (IHA).
Damond Boatwright is the President and CEO of Hospital Sisters Health System and IHA’s 2026 Board Chair.
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July 11, 2026 at 08:08AM
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