Is Marxism the only way to save rural health care? Most conservatives would recoil from such a claim, but some Oklahoma legislators appear to have swallowed it.
The House and Senate passed HB 2048, the 340B Nondiscrimination Act. The bill would lock in and expand Obamacare Medicaid drug policies in the Sooner State, but it was vetoed by Gov. Kevin Stitt. Now some legislators are pushing an override that could enact the bill over the objections of the conservative Republican governor.
Congress began distorting drug pricing in 1990, trying to lower prices within the Medicaid welfare program. When prices went up even more, it tried again, and in 1992 passed the Public Health Service Act with Section 340B. That law shifts costs, imposing what amounts to a hidden tax that Americans pay—either directly for higher priced drugs or indirectly for higher priced insurance—in order to subsidize certain health care corporations.
Until Obamacare, the reach of these programs was relatively small. It was Medicaid expansion that poured gasoline on the fire, growing the program to include a quarter of all Americans and increasing the 340B cash haul by 374% from 2013 to 2021.
Health care corporations in the 340B program buy outpatient drugs at a steep discount. They are not required to pass those savings along—not to patients or their insurance. Instead, they often charge them full price and just pocket the windfall profit.
Of course, there is no free lunch. Someone has to pay, and with 340B that means ordinary Americans who pay more for these same drugs and more for insurance premiums. Politicians love it, however, because they get credit for the windfall profits. In Oklahoma, all this is done under the banner of “saving rural health care.”
The irony is that the big winners in 340B are the biggest health care corporations, which often drive consolidation that costs smaller communities their local doctors and other health care providers. This should come as no surprise to conservatives, who know that companies with the most lawyers and lobbyists always win when government manipulates markets.
HB 2048 is more than just a grab for cash, however. Measures like this are an effort to get red states further entangled in the Obamacare Medicaid regime, making reform even more difficult.
While the Oklahoma Legislature is pushing 340B expansion, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., is working to expose abuses in the program and push for patient-focused reforms. Oklahoma’s own U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin is part of a 340B working group focused on the issue.
Stitt was right to veto HB 2048, which would further entrench Obamacare and other wrong-headed liberal health care schemes in Oklahoma. There are better ways than shady price fixing to help rural health care providers. State lawmakers should sustain the veto and focus on market-based solutions that actually help Oklahoma patients.
This article was originally published at www.dailysignal.com
