In the litany of examples of how the U.S. health care system has become so broken, none is as instructive as the 340B Drug Discount Program. Once an obscure program that ensured that a few dozen safety-net hospitals and clinics could help low-income patients without suffering financially, it has become twisted into a “cash cow” for major healthcare systems that, ironically, incentivizes participants to put patients with commercial insurance first…and uninsured and Medicaid patients last.
