President Trump signed an executive order on Monday aimed at lowering several drug prices in the United States by adjusting them to what other wealthy countries pay, he said in Truth Society on Sunday evening.
The proposal he described cannot change federal policies is what he calls the “most preferred country” pricing model. Trump did not provide details on which type of insurance the plan would cover or the number of drugs targeted, but he noted that the US should pay the lowest price among its peers.
“Our country will ultimately be treated fairly and citizens' healthcare costs will be reduced by numbers they have never even thought about before,” he wrote in a social media post.
Such a plan is likely to be subject to court challenges, and it is not clear whether it will pass legal convening without action by the legislative council.
In his first term, Trump sought to enact a version of the idea of Medicare, a health insurance program that covers 68 million Americans over the age of 65 or with disabilities. The plan would have only applied to 50 drugs administered in clinics and hospitals paid by Medicare. The federal court blocked it and found the administration skipped action in the policy making process.
The pharmaceutical industry is vehemently opposed to the idea that it will almost certainly be cut to its profits, and has been lobbying against it as policy debates regained steam in Washington in recent weeks. Companies warn that such policies will reduce research spending and deprive patients of new medicines.
“All forms of government pricing are bad for patients in America,” said Alex Schriver, an employee of a leading pharmaceutical industry lobbying group, in a statement. He added: “Policymakers should focus on fixing defects in the US system rather than importing failed policies from overseas.”
Trump's embrace of ideas sets him apart from most Republicans who tend to be skeptical of government pricing. Democrats are proposing a version of the idea.
Amiet Salpatwali, a pharmaceutical policy expert at Harvard Medical School, said Trump is taking advantage of ideas that have “populist appeal.”
Trump has long complained that the US is paying far more than other wealthy countries. And he's right. In the US, branded drugs average prices are three times more than those of Pierination.
That's despite the fact that much of the research leading to new drugs is conducted in American labs and hospitals.
Drugmakers generate a significant portion of the global profits from US sales and usually design business strategies in the US market.
Pharmaceutical companies claim that higher prices in the US have additional benefits. Industry-funded analysis found that US patients were faster and with fewer insurance restrictions than patients in other countries.
