On Thursday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended President Donald Trump’s inaccurate claims about prescription drug price reductions, using questionable mathematics himself.
Trump had previously asserted that he would cut prescription drug prices by “1,000%, 600%, 500%, 1,500%.” Critics quickly pointed out the mathematical impossibility of such claims.
Ed Mazza of JS clarified, “Reducing the price by 100% would make the drugs free. Trump’s figures of ‘1,000%, 600%, 500%, 1,500%’ would imply negative costs, effectively paying people to take medication.”
Kennedy attempted to rationalize Trump’s misuse of percentages during an Oval Office meeting on Thursday.
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A Democrat senator mocked Trump’s math, stating the impossibility of a drug’s cost dropping by 600%, as Trump had claimed,” Kennedy said. “I said, ‘If the drug was $100 and the price increased to $600, that represents a 600% rise. Conversely, a drop from $600 to $100 would be a 600% savings.’”
These calculations are incorrect.
A price jump from $100 to $600 equates to a $500 increase, or 500%. A reduction from $600 to $100 is a $500 decrease, approximately 83% in savings.
Kennedy essentially backed Trump’s erroneous percentage interpretation, labeling it as a “mathematical device.”
On Wednesday, Kennedy used a similar defense when Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) questioned him about Trump’s statements in a Senate hearing.
“President Trump calculates differently … there are two ways to calculate percentages. If a $600 drug is reduced to $10, that’s a 600% reduction,” Kennedy explained. Commentators pointed out that such a decrease would actuallyreflect a 98% reduction, not 600% as suggested.
Trump reiterated this viewpoint on Thursday.
“There are two ways of calculating it, but either way, it doesn’t make any difference,” he stated, “Whether it’s 60, 70, or 80% nobody’s ever heard of it. But it’s also 500, 600, 700, depending on the way you want to look at it, the way you word the calculation.”
Kennedy and Trump’s remarks occur as the administration promotes efforts to lower prescription drug costs. Thursday’s Oval Office event highlighted a deal Trump secured with biotech firm Regeneron for drug price cuts for some Americans, as well as tariff relief for the company.
Earlier in February, the administration introduced the TrumpRx website, aiming to facilitate consumers’ direct purchase of lower-cost drugs. The platform has faced criticism for its limited drug options and the availability of cheaper generic alternatives elsewhere.
