Americans across the country are struggling to pay for medical services and prescription drugs, leaving too many to choose between paying for their living expenses or paying for their next doctor’s appointment or drug dose.

Per capita health care spending in the United States over the past decade grew by 45% or more In 2021, it will total $12,914. half of US adults Difficulties in paying medical expenses, 13% of Americans It is currently working to collect medical debt. Recovering these funds is surprisingly currently top source of work For collection agencies, it accounts for more than all other types of debt in collections combined, demonstrating the broken state of the health care system.

Many Americans in particular are affected by rising pharmacy and insurance costs.about 1/4 adult Say you or someone in your family has not written a prescription, cut your medication in half, or stopped taking it in the past year simply because it was too expensive. Meanwhile, the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Employer Health Benefits Survey found that health insurance individual coverage premiums have increased year over year. 58 percent From 2010 to 2022, family insurance premiums have increased by more than 1 million yen. 63 percent. That equates to more than $700 in insurance premium increases for the average American household each year over the past 12 years. These high costs leave millions of Americans uninsured and millions more chronically uninsured without affordable health care. There is no situation.

Unfortunately, policymakers in Washington are currently ditching programs created to expand access to life-saving medicines and critical health services in some of the most underserved areas of the United States. Considering harmful changes to This is an alarming development as it could exacerbate many of the healthcare access challenges Americans already face.

The program in question, 340B, provides rural safety-net hospitals and medical facilities with discounted drug purchases for their corresponding low-income, underinsured, and uninsured patients. The cost savings will be used to provide low-cost or free medicines to economically challenged patients and to provide more charitable care and comprehensive services in health facilities.

about 1 in 5 Americans Programs like 340B are very important for people who live in rural areas. This figure equates to approximately 60 million Americans nationwide who depend on rural health facilities to provide critical life-saving services and other routine but necessary medical care.but almost 30% of rural hospitals The 340B program serves as an essential source of support in the United States, which is on the brink of closure, primarily due to financial difficulties.

Congress is currently considering reforms that, although well-meaning, could make it impossible for many hospitals to continue participating in the 340B program, effectively forcing hospitals to leave. The proposed changes will force participating medical facilities to, among other things, deal with new administrative hurdles that require them to undergo a arduous recertification process each year. Many people may not be able to cope with this administrative burden. Other proposed amendments could also prevent new hospitals from enrolling in his 340B program, potentially accelerating the financial death spiral many of these safety net hospitals are facing. Legislators and regulators should reconsider such drastic measures as they could well limit patient access to treatment across the United States.

Oversight to ensure that the 340B program is operating as originally intended is within the congress, and legislators should focus their efforts on this goal. For example, rolling back efforts by several pharmaceutical companies to convert $340 billion into back-end rebate programs would add another layer of management to the process and force financially vulnerable medical facilities to bear the cost of drugs. It will be good start. Other reforms to the 340B program should continue to be aimed at rooting out waste, fraud and abuse, and Washington leaders have arbitrarily restricted access to the program and bureaucratically reduced small rural hospitals. Avoid overly aggressive behavior that can drown you in a pile of bureaucracy.

For the millions of uninsured or underinsured patients in the United States, the greater access to free or discounted medicines and charity care provided by the 340B program is invaluable. The program operates free of charge to US taxpayers, Only 3.6% of the total pharmaceutical market, A punch that far exceeds its weight. As Americans continue to contend with ever-increasing health care costs, it will be vital to strengthen programs that counter this worrying trend and promote improved access to health care in the United States.

Rep. Billy Long represented Missouri’s 7th congressional district from 2011 to 2023 and previously served on the Energy and Commerce Commission’s Health Subcommittee.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.