Representing Chicago’s West Side in the Illinois House of Representatives, I’ve seen firsthand how access to health care can be incredibly fragile for low-income families.

Many of my constituents live in communities where hospitals have closed, clinics are underfunded and patients are forced to travel miles just to see a doctor.

That’s exactly why Congress created the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program in 1992. The idea was to give hospitals that serve large numbers of low-income patients drugs at significant discounts, often 25% to 50% below market price , while still getting each drugs’ full reimbursement rate from insurance. They were supposed to invest the difference in price into free clinics, charity care and community health programs in the underserved areas they serve.

Unfort

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