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Prescription drugs are too expensive, and too many New Yorkers are struggling to obtain and afford the health care they need to survive and thrive. That reality is getting worse at exactly the wrong time. Costs are rising, uncertainty is growing, and communities like ours in Rochester are bracing for the fallout.
That is why New York must act now to protect the 340B Drug Pricing Program and pass the 340B Prescription Drug Anti-Discrimination Act, A.6222 (Paulin) / S.1913 (Rivera). If Albany doesn’t step in, Big Pharma and pharmacy middlemen will keep squeezing 340B until community health centers and hospitals are forced to scale back services and shut their doors—leaving patients with nowhere to turn.
340B is a simple idea: Enacted in 1992, this federal program helps community health centers and hospitals buy certain medicines at a discount so they can reinvest savings in patient care. I’ve seen firsthand what’s at stake through my work with Trillium Health, a community health center with deep roots in the LGBTQ+ community and a long history of meeting the challenge of HIV head-on.
Trillium’s model of care is comprehensive because people’s needs are comprehensive. We treat the physical, social, and emotional health of our patients. That means primary and specialty care, pediatrics and gynecology, behavioral wellness, testing and prevention, and harm-reduction programs that save lives. And our ability to provide all of it depends on the 340B savings we reinvest in patient care. Trillium could not sustain the full model our patients rely on without it.
But Big Pharma has been trying to undermine 340B for years because it cuts into their profits. Now the attacks are getting more aggressive and more brazen. Drug companies are restricting the use of local contract pharmacies. Pharmacy benefit managers are squeezing providers by paying less or adding fees simply because a prescription is filled through 340B. These tactics drain resources out of patient care and put access at risk, especially in communities where patients cannot easily get to an in-house pharmacy.
Contract pharmacies are not a technical detail. They are how patients actually get their medicine close to home. In New York, over 90 percent of community health centers rely on contract pharmacies and partner with an average of 16-20 pharmacies to reach patients where they live. When Big Pharma blocks that access, patients pay the price—not in theory, but in missed doses, delayed treatment, and preventable setbacks that ripple across families and communities.
The 340B Prescription Drug Anti-Discrimination Act is straightforward. It would stop drug companies and pharmacy benefit managers from singling out 340B providers with extra restrictions or payment cuts. It would protect community health centers’ and hospitals’ ability to use local contract pharmacies. And it would give the state Department of Health the authority to enforce the law and hold violators accountable.
Opponents will claim this is about “transparency” or “program integrity.” Of course program integrity matters. But 340B is already a federal program with federal oversight, and New York should not allow out-of-state corporations to rewrite the rules in ways that ration access to medication and care. The real question is simple: Should decisions about access to care be driven by patient needs or corporate profit targets?
If Albany fails to act, the outcome is clear: fewer services, longer waits, and more community health centers and hospitals forced to scale back or shut their doors.
New Yorkers deserve better. The Legislature should pass A.6222/S.1913 and the governor should sign it. At no cost to taxpayers, New York can protect access to care statewide by stopping corporate roadblocks from squeezing resources out of patient care.
Christopher Sardella is vice chair of governance on the board of directors of Trillium Health in Rochester.
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