Trump Administration Moves to Slash Prescription Drug Prices
The Trump administration has embarked on a significant initiative aimed at decreasing the cost of prescription drugs for Americans. This week marked the initial steps toward implementing a pricing strategy known as “most-favored-nation” pricing. This approach would align U.S. drug prices with the lowest rates paid by countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a group predominantly comprising nations with robust economies, as reported by Reuters.
“In just a matter of weeks, we could see drug prices plummet,” President Donald Trump stated on Thursday, according to The Hill.
Trump asserted that Americans have been unfairly burdened by exorbitant prescription costs.
“We are targeting reductions in drug costs that could reach as high as 89 percent in certain instances, with 50 percent being the bare minimum,” Trump remarked. “This will yield massive savings, significantly benefiting Medicaid and all other healthcare forms. The impact on Medicare will be monumental—so significant that it defies calculation.”
To spearhead this initiative, Trump has appointed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, and he delivered a Trump-esque motivational speech to them on Thursday.
“I have immense confidence in your abilities as a team. And should you fail, I will not hesitate to let you go. Good luck!” he quipped.
In a news release, Kennedy expressed optimism that the plan would benefit Americans. “For too long, Americans have been shackled with inflated prices for the same medications available overseas at much lower costs. That changes today. We expect pharmaceutical companies to uphold their promise to reduce prices for American patients, or we will take necessary measures to enforce compliance.”
Earlier this month, Trump had already signed an executive order aimed at reducing prescription prices. “Time and again, our citizens are paying exorbitantly more than other countries for the same medication, produced in the same facilities, effectively subsidizing foreign healthcare systems through our skyrocketing costs,” he stated in a fact sheet published on the White House website.
“We’re wasting considerable sums to provide affordable medications to other countries, while American consumers are often hit with prices that can be four to five times higher.”
The executive order outlined the administration’s commitment to establish “most-favored-nation price targets” to align American drug costs with those of similarly developed nations. The directive also sought to put an end to what it termed “global freeloading,” cautioning drug manufacturers that failure to offer the lowest prices to American consumers would prompt “additional aggressive action” from the administration.
“The United States represents less than five percent of the global population, yet accounts for approximately three-quarters of worldwide pharmaceutical profits. This stark disparity arises from a deliberate strategy where drug companies heavily discount their products to enter foreign markets, compensating for this through exorbitantly high prices in the U.S.,” Trump noted in the order.
“This exploitation of American generosity, which denies our citizens affordable pharmaceuticals on par with other developed countries, must cease. Americans should no longer be compelled to pay nearly three times more for identical medications, frequently manufactured in the very same facilities.”
This article originally appeared on The Western Journal.
