Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today renewed his push to make it possible for health care providers that serve certain low-income and uninsured patients to purchase drugs at discounted prices.    

Currently, safety-net providers – health care providers that treat a high percentage of low-income and uninsured patients – are able to purchase medications for outpatients at discounted prices through the 340B Drug Discount Program.  These safety-net providers include high-Medicaid disproportionate share hospitals (DSH), community health centers, and federally funded programs such as the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) and urban clinics for Native Americans.  

Bingaman’s bill, “The 340B Program Improvement and Integrity Act of 2009,” would for the first time will allow those safety-net provides to purchase medications for inpatients at discounted prices.

“Communities across the New Mexico and the country rely on the healthcare “safety net” to provide care for low-income, uninsured, and underinsured patients.  With the ever-increasing cost of prescription drugs, these safety-net providers are struggling to provide basic pharmaceutical care to those least able to afford it,” Bingaman said.  “This bill would extend discounted prices to include inpatient drugs and make it possible for safety net hospitals to adequately care for our nation’s most vulnerable patients.”  

Bingaman said his bill would also expand participation in the program to a subset of rural hospitals that currently cannot access 340B discounts.  These newly eligible rural hospitals include: critical access hospitals, and certain sole community hospitals and rural referral centers.   Newly eligible rural hospitals would have to meet appropriate standards demonstrating their “safety net” status, as do all participants in the program. 

Bingaman is working to include his measure into the health care reform legislation the Senate will begin writing next week.