We must protect vital '340B' drug discounts for safety net hospitals

Millions of Americans receive help every year from a federal program they have never heard of: the 340B drug discount program, which allows public and nonprofit safety-net hospitals to better provide both affordable medications and vital services to the underserved. I helped write the legislation that created this program and worked to expand it in the 2010 Affordable Care Act. The program has been extremely successful in reducing drug costs and helping support the hospitals and clinics that provide care to the uninsured. But now pharmaceutical industry opponents of the law are trying rewrite history and limit 340B program eligibility for hospitals and patients -- even as they charge as much as $1,000 for a single pill for some drugs.