They want to expand an opaque, anti-transparent, anti-free market policy called the 340B program. The 340B program was created in 1992 with a simple goal: help struggling hospitals stretch scarce resources so they could provide increased care to low-income patients. Meanwhile, rural Kansas hospitals and independent pharmacies are getting squeezed. When manufacturers are forced to give deeper and deeper discounts under 340B, they don’t just eat the loss. They subsidize their activities with the 340B program.