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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (May 21, 2025)
Page 2 The Skanner Portland & Seattle May 21, 2025 Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now Opinion Policymakers Should Support Patients With Chronic Conditions Bernie Foster Founder/Publisher Bobbie Dore Foster Executive Editor Jerry Foster Advertising Manager O Patricia Irvin Product Manager Graphic Designer Saundra Sorenson Reporter Monica J. Foster Seattle Office Coordinator Susan Fried Photographer The Skanner Newspaper, es- tablished in October 1975, is a weekly publication, published every Wednesday by IMM Publi- cations Inc. P.O. Box 5455 Portland, OR 97228 Telephone (503) 285-5555 Fax: (503) 285-2900 info@theskanner.com www.TheSkanner.com The Skanner is a member of the National Newspaper Pub lishers Association and West Coast Black Pub lishers Association. All photos submitted become the property of The Skanner. We are not re spon sible for lost or damaged photos either solicited or unsolicited. ©2025 The Skanner. All rights re served. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission prohibited. regon stands at a cross- roads in its effort to make healthcare more equitable and accessi- ble. As an organization that advocates for people living with HIV/AIDS and viral hep- atitis, the Community Access National Network urges law- makers to reject HB 2385 and oppose the unchecked expan- sion of the 340B Drug Pricing Program in Oregon. The 340B Program was es- tablished with good inten- tions. Enacted by Congress in 1992, its purpose was to enable safety-net providers to purchase prescription medi- cations at steep discounts and to use those savings to expand access to care for vulnerable populations. But the program has strayed far from this mis- sion. As it exists today, 340B too often serves institution- al financial gain rather than directly benefiting patients, leaving patients to ask “What about me?” This misalignment is dan- gerous for people living with HIV and hepatitis. We face chronic health needs and de- pend on consistent, afford- able access to life-saving med- ications. Expanding a broken system under HB 2385 threat- ens to deepen healthcare dis- Jen Laws President & CEO of Community Access Nat’l Network parities rather than alleviate them. The HIV and hepatitis com- munities depend on highly coordinated, accessible care. Yet in many cases, patients served through the 340B net- “ As it exists to- day, 340B too often serves institutional financial gain rather than directly bene- fiting patients work are not actually seeing the benefits of discounted drugs. For example, when a hospital purchases a medi- cine at a 340B discount and then partners with a contract pharmacy to dispense it, the patient is often charged the full retail price. The savings are instead shared between the hospital and pharmacy, not passed on to the person in need. Studies have found that 340B revenues incentivize consolidation by driving 340B hospitals to acquire physician practices in wealthy areas. Meanwhile, 340B contract pharmacy arrangements are increasingly consolidated into large pharmacy chains located in higher-income communities. This consolida- tion reduces access to care, particularly for marginalized and rural populations, who often find themselves exclud- ed from expanded 340B net- works. HB 2385 would permit further expansion of 340B contract pharmacy arrange- ments without adding trans- parency or accountability. 48% of Oregon 340B hospital contracts are with out-of-state pharmacies, and only 26% of in-state contract pharmacies are located in medically un- derserved areas. Simply ex- panding the program’s foot- print without reform will not improve care for rural or un- derserved populations. It will, however, increase op- portunities for markup and profiteering, further inflat- House Committee Votes to Strip CFPB’s Victim Compensation Fund F Local News Paci c NW News World News Opinions Jobs, Bids Entertainment Community Calendar LOCAL NEWS BRIEFS LOCAL EVENTS Updated daily online. d ay ! • L i ke u s o n F ebo m me • nts TheSkannerNews o k • learn • co in y o u r c o m m u n to y • ac it Hear about it first. Sign up for Breaking News and Events at or more than a decade, consumers have lauded the Consumer Finan- cial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for its myriad accom- plishments that have brought transparency and fairness to the financial marketplace. Earlier this year, a survey commissioned by the Cen- ter for Responsible Lend- ing found that 82 percent of Americans believe it is im- portant to regulate financial services to ensure they are fair for consumers. Research, regulation, inves- tigations, and litigation were among the effective tools CFPB used to return more than $21 billion to over 200 million defrauded consum- ers. At the same time, the an- ti-regulatory interests that opposed CFPB’s creation nev- er stopped trying to weaken, defy, or eliminate the agen- cy. Now with a president and Congress actively embracing a deregulatory stance, the combination of pro-business presidential executive orders vigorously pursued by execu- tive appointees have wreaked financial harm on consumers and compromised the agen- cy’s mission. From slashing CFPB sta ng by 70 percent, halting both investigations and pending litigation, to reversing reg- Charlene Crowell Guest Columnist ulations on overdraft and credit cards, in recent days a third anti-consumer move announced the agency would not enforce regulation of ‘buy now, pay later’ credit. In sum, today’s agency actions “ In sum, to- day’s agency actions no longer reflect its name or mission. no longer reflect its name or mission. Yet the fight to neuter CFPB is still not done. It is now mov- ing monies –denying or de- laying millions that consum- ers are rightfully owed, and sending billions of dollars earmarked for victim com- pensation to the U.S. Treasury instead. A pending, real-life case il- lustrates the harm wrought by such moves, and the finan- cial injustice that results. This February, several state attorneys general began res- titution inquiries owed by Prehire, LLC. Earlier, CFPB determined that Prehired, LLC, an unlicensed online sales training program, vi- olated two federal laws: the Truth in Lending Act, and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The firm lured prospec- tive tech sales students with false promises of guaranteed minimal annual earnings of $60,000 at a ‘tech company of their choice.’ The cost per student was half that amount - $30,000. Then the firm sold loans to its students to cover enrollment costs. A March 12 joint letter to CFPB that asked about the sta- tus of payments to Prehire’s victims failed to receive a re- ply. On May 06, a follow-up letter restated their earlier concerns. Terming Prehire as “a pred- atory online training boot- camp,” the state attorneys general in Colorado, Dela- ware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, and South Carolina as well as the California Department of Fi- nancial Protection and Inno- vation, wrote in part: “Prehired trapped its stu- dents with illegal and decep- tive “income share” loans. Prehired then resorted to ing drug costs and reducing the affordability of care. Ex- panding contract pharmacies defeats the program’s goal of expanding access to care by rewarding profiteering enti- ties rather than constraining them, putting more resourc- es in the hands of those least accountable to vulnerable pa- tients. A recent report reveals how 340B participants are using the program to markup drug prices significantly by as much as 700%, sometimes more, while pocketing the difference instead of lower- ing costs for patients. In 2023 alone, $6.6 billion in employ- er healthcare costs were at- tributed to lost rebates on 340B prescriptions, and $1.8 billion in state and federal tax revenue was lost in 2021 due to this misalignment. These numbers speak to a system spiraling away from its core mission and becoming a hid- den tax on patients, employ- ers, and taxpayers alike. In Oregon, these problems are compounded by health- care challenges. The Oregon Health Authority has noted persistent racial and geo- graphic disparities in access to primary and specialty care, especially in rural areas and among Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color. Read the rest of this commentary at TheSkanner.com abusive debt collection prac- tices —including filing hun- dreds of debt collection law- suits—when students could not repay those loans and the job offers Prehired promised did not materialize. Prehired specifically targeted military veterans with its advertising.” “Prehired was in bank- ruptcy and unable to issue refunds to its victims,” the letter continued. “In such cases, the CFPB’s Civil Penal- ty Fund is available to com- pensate harmed victims. Our o ces worked with the CFPB to secure an allocation from the Civil Penalty Fund, in the amount of $4,248,249. The CFPB finalized the allocation on May 30, 2024.” Ironically, a recent par- ty-line vote by the House Fi- nancial Services Committee (HFSC) approved a resolution to remove CFPB’s ability to repay defrauded consumers from its Civil Penalty Fund (CPF). If subsequently passed by Congress, the fund’s un- allocated revenues would be given to the Treasury Depart- ment, instead of remaining available to compensate vic- tims. Billions of dollars at stake. In June 2024, the O ce of In- spector General at the CFPB reported that the CPF had collected $3.4 billion and held a balance of $1.9 billion, as of September 2023. Read the rest of this commentary at TheSkanner.com nt • lo c a l n e w s • eve
