340B NEEDS ACCOUNTABILITY.
NOT A BLANK CHECK.
Hospitals won’t tell us where billions of dollars are going. Minnesotans should be worried.
The federal 340B program was created by Congress to help uninsured and underinsured patients. According to the most recent Minnesota 340B Covered Entity Report, corporate health systems used 340B to rake in nearly $1 billion in profits.
But where are the massive sums of money received by Minnesota hospitals going? Without appropriate oversight and no guardrails, big corporate health systems across the country and in Minnesota have turned the program into a cash cow.
Now elected officials, patient advocates, and healthcare payers are finally asking questions. How do hospitals use their 340B money? How much benefit are patients actually seeing?
The little data we do have paints a troubling picture: corporate health systems in Minnesota are taking advantage of a program meant to help vulnerable patients. Profits grow; charity care doesn’t.
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340B money going to feel-good vanity projects
One metro-based health system confessed to the Minneapolis City Council that they used 340B money to pay for a pollinator garden and EV charging stations. How do feel-good vanity projects help uninsured patients?
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Suing patients who can’t pay
Another health system filed the most lawsuits against patients with outstanding bills the same year they made $370 million from 340B. Shouldn’t that money be helping the very patients they are suing?
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Forcing patients on to higher priced medicine
Multiple investigations have found that 340B hospitals are more expensive. One 340B hospital in Minnesota increased their prescriptions of Humira from $18 million in 2022 to $50 million in 2025, even though there were multiple less expensive biosimilars on the market. How does 340B help patients when the data suggests it may actually be driving healthcare costs up?
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340B hospitals made $1 billion more than they spent on charity care
While Minnesota hospitals made $1.3 billion in 340B profits in 2024, the Department of Health reported that Minnesota patients only received $358.9 million in uncompensated care in 2023 (the most recent year data is available).
Minnesota patients need affordable care, not a slush fund for corporate health systems. 340B needs accountability, not a blank check.