DPC Urges Nebraska Legislature to Oppose LB168 340B Program Expansion

Domestic Policy Caucus Secretary/Treasurer Kent Kaiser, Ph.D., today wrote to members of the Nebraska Legislature's Banking, Commerce, and Insurance Committee, urging them to oppose LB168, which would expand the 340B program in the state.

Here are some excerpts of the DPC letter to Nebraska lawmakers: "If they were made aware of it, most Nebraskans probably would find it baffling that their state legislature is considering the expansion of a massive federal healthcare mandate. It’s troubling that this appears to be happening with little discussion about the financial impacts of the policy or about the impact on rural Nebraskans... What’s more is that an expansion of 340B would hand over even more economic power to massive, national chain pharmacies that have driven so many local, mom-and-pop pharmacies out of business over the past several years... As you know, pharmacies are essential to the communities they serve. But in Nebraska and throughout America, independent drugstores are struggling... Nebraska is in the top four states with the most counties having insufficient access to a drugstore."

Read the full letter here.