President Trump is aiming to reduce prescription cost for low-income Americans
MARYLAND – April 15th PresidenTrump signed an Executive Order directing the Department of Health and Human Services, to significantly reduce drug prices for American patients, and space for negotiations with Medicare spending. Now this is just one day after the administration launched a national security investigation into pharmaceuticals, calling it a precursor to sector-specific tariffs.
Lower Cost
Medications that treat certain cancers, diabetes and other conditions can be very expensive for low-income families, and President Trump aims to change all of that. “My administration is issuing 2 groundbreaking rules to very dramatically lower the price of prescription drugs for the American people, especially for our cherished seniors.”
Pharmacy Benefit Managers
Retail Pharmacy Program Manager for Atlantic General Hospital Jeff Kukel says Pharmacy Benefit Managers, or PBM are the middlemen between the insurance companies, drug manufactures, and the pharmacy, and are responsible for a lot of the inconsistencies.
“A type 1 Diabetic cannot live without insulin. Someone that has sever allergies and is having an allergic reaction, critically needs epinephrine to stay alive. and these are expensive medications today … There is no one price for prescription medication, and that’s part of the problem. because there is no transparency around drug pricing. What one person pays is not the same as what the next person pays, and it could be different in this pharmacy vs that pharmacy.”
Big Pharma
The Order says standardizing Medicare payments regardless of where the patient receives care can lower prices as much as 60%. Salisbury Chamber of Commerce President Bill Chambers says Big Pharma needs more time before the federal government price sets.
“It’s a real ying and a yang right now on how this plays out. Again, the Trump administration wants to do as much as they can, according to what they’ve said, to lower this cost. But the companies producing these medications are saying not so fast, lets slow the process down.”
Optimistic
Many are asking with the tariffs; can it truly happen? Kukel comments, “I’m optimistic, but a little confused about what’s being said. For someone who works boots on the ground trying to put medications in a patient’s hand daily, the PBM reform is a critical piece of the puzzle.”
Chambers goes on to say, “The bottom line is the consumer, the end user is going to be impacted, and consideration needs to be played out in a way that the impacts to consumers aren’t negative.”
President Trump isn’t backing down, “The first action will save American seniors billions of dollars by preventing middle- men, famous middlemen they call them from ripping off Medicare patients with high prescription prices.”
The fact sheet published by the White House says the President is dedicated to a fair prescription drug market for American Consumers, writing in part, “By addressing the influence of middlemen and promoting open competition, President Trump’s actions aim to create a fairer prescription drug market that lowers costs and ensures accountability across the health care system.”
To impose tariffs on national security grounds, the administration’s investigation probe must be completed within 270 days.
