I’m a patient who, like many other patients, is sharing my story of how 340B benefitted me. Connie Farrow’s claim otherwise in a Missouri Times opinion submission on April 29 is absolutely not the case. I’m here to tell you that after a decade of fighting Crohn’s Disease, I’m finally in remission in part because my hospital has access to 340B. They are using the program to help me afford the drugs that keep me healthy.
Legislation to address raids on the program has made hopeful progress this year. But, in these last weeks of session, this issue’s Goliath – the big pharmaceutical companies – is pulling out all the stops. I guess I can see why these powerful interests, still trying to oppose it, would want to reduce access — so they can keep money in their pockets. However, they have completely mischaracterized how the 340B Drug Pricing Program works, who it benefits and why it is important to rural communities like mine. For a great look at the rural hospital perspective, a person could re-read this previous Missouri Times opinion submission.
Rather than giving any weight to the various mischaracterizations in the April 29 op-ed, let me say this about 340B: It helps patients access medications they simply would not be able to afford without the program and it supports the providers that guide that care. That’s exactly what the program was designed to do.
Big Pharma is trying to change the rules. They want to limit the number of participating providers, are seeking access to unnecessary personal health information and want to make the system so unwieldy that it is impossible to administer. In the final days of session, they are throwing countless bogus issues out there, hoping something sticks.
Please don’t be confused. This program helped change my life and, more importantly, is doing the same thing for countless Missourians. If this game-playing continues, there will be real harm — Missourians will forgo care, suffer disabilities from chronic conditions that could be managed and have poorer, shorter lives.
Pharmaceutical giants want us to think of them as creating lifesaving cures. Those cures are only as good as the patient’s ability to access them.
I’m fighting for my future and for people like me who benefit from the 340B program. I’m urging lawmakers to continue down their commendable path to adopt Senate Bill 751.
