KERRIGAN IN REAL CLEAR HEALTH: America’s Small Businesses Can’t Afford 340B Abuse

By SBE Council at 27 July, 2026, 1:18 pm

In a Real Clear Health Op-Ed, SBE Council President & CEO Karen Kerrigan writes that many hospitals are destabilizing small businesses across America by exploiting a little-known federal charity program that drives healthcare costs up:

"The 340B Drug Pricing Program was supposed to help safety-net hospitals serve vulnerable patients by letting them buy prescription medicines at a discount. But because hospitals are not actually obligated to pass those savings on, many use the program to bill patients - and their employer-provided insurance plans - at enormous markups to generate profit."

"These tactics are already driving small employers' costs to untenable levels. Small business health premiums have risen nearly 20% in the last year alone. In recent years, rising costs have forced nearly a third of small businesses to cut health insurance benefits."

In the piece, Kerrigan reports that the good news is that there's bipartisan consensus to tackle the abuse, which includes more transparency on the part of hospitals that participate in the program.