Why the 340B Rebate Model Puts Patients Before Profits

The State AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs), authorized under the Ryan White CARE Act in 1996, serve as the payor of last resort for people living with HIV/AIDS who otherwise cannot afford their life- saving medications. Since 1996, ADAPs have saved literally millions of lives. Only four years earlier, in 1992, Congress created the 340B Drug Pricing Program “to stretch scarce federal resources as far as possible, reaching more eligible patients and providing more comprehensive services.” 340B has saved millions of lives, too. But that program, unfortunately, has lost its way. With a growing chorus calling for long-overdue reforms to the 340B Program, State AIDS Drug Assistance Programs, which use the rebate model, offer a way to bring the 340B Program back to its original intent.