Letter: Healthcare bill reform needed

To the editor, I'm not a policy expert, but I do pay close attention to my health care bills and to what's happening at the hospitals and clinics I rely on here in Minnesota. A few things concern me right now, and I think Congress could address all of them. Start with most-favored-nation pricing, which keeps getting pitched as the fix. From what I can tell, it targets prices set by other governments, not the two problems actually driving what Minnesota families pay. The first of those is the 340B program. Hospitals can get drug discounts through it, but they don't have to show patients any benefit from those discounts. Minnesota actually has the data to prove it: a state law requiring 340B reporting found that large hospitals collect roughly 80% of the program's savings while filling about 60% of the prescriptions, and the small rural facilities that need the help most see only a fraction of that benefit. More transparency and accountability requirements, applied nationally the way Minnesota applies them at home, would redirect savings to where they were supposed to go. The second is the continued need for PBM reform. I was glad Congress passed legislation on this earlier in the year. Pharmacy Benefit Managers have been keeping too much of the rebates they negotiate instead of sharing the savings with patients. That legislation mattered, but I hope there's real follow-through so patients actually feel the difference when they fill a prescription. With Congress home in Minnesota this month and an election ahead, both of these reforms would do more for everyday families than most of what I hear debated in Washington. A foreign price list won't. These will. Terry Fore East Grand Forks