Posted on Monday, September 8, 2025
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by AMAC Action
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This legislation risks deepening a system already plagued by unchecked profiteering and bureaucratic loopholes, the burden of which ultimately falls on our nation’s seniors.
September 8th, 2025
The Honorable Members of the Subcommittee on Health
House Committee on Energy and Commerce
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Griffith, Vice Chair Harshbarger, and Members of the Subcommittee,
On behalf of AMAC Action, the advocacy affiliate of the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC), with over 2 million members nationwide, I write to firmly oppose H.R. 4581, the 340B PATIENTS Act of 2025. This legislation risks deepening a system already plagued by unchecked profiteering and bureaucratic loopholes, the burden of which ultimately falls on our nation’s seniors.
Over many years the 340B Drug Pricing Program has drifted far from its original mission. Instead of ensuring affordable medications for the truly needy, it has evolved into a profit center for powerful hospital networks and corporate pharmacy middlemen. These entities continue to exploit discounted drug pricing while offering little to no relief to the patients the program was intended to help, particularly low-income seniors living on fixed incomes.
Expanding this flawed system without real reform would only make matters worse. Seniors already face the highest out-of-pocket medication costs in our healthcare system. This bill would do nothing to curb those costs. In fact, it is likely to enable the continuation of pricing practices where discounts are pocketed by intermediaries while seniors are charged full retail prices at the pharmacy counter.
We are also deeply concerned by the lack of safeguards in this legislation. At a time when inflation and government spending are top concerns for older Americans, the 340B PATIENTS Act fails to deliver the kind of accountability and oversight taxpayers deserve. Expanding a program that lacks transparency and measurable outcomes is fiscally irresponsible.
The growing number of contract pharmacies operating under 340B, now numbering in the hundreds of thousands, has not translated into better access for rural or underserved seniors. Many of these pharmacies are concentrated in affluent areas, far from the seniors most in need of affordable prescriptions. This geographic imbalance highlights a fundamental misalignment between the program’s reach and its purpose. If Congress is serious about reducing healthcare costs and supporting seniors, then any reform to 340B must begin with accountability, data transparency, and strict oversight, not further expansion of a system ripe for exploitation.
For these reasons, AMAC Action strongly urges you to reject the 340B PATIENTS Act of 2025.
Sincerely,
Andrew J. Mangione Jr.
Senior Vice President
AMAC Action
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