PResident Trump on Friday signed four executive orders aiming to cut prescription drug prices, seeking to boost his health reform credentials amid low approval ratings.
“They represent the most far-reaching prescription drug reforms ever issued by a president, nothing close,” Trump said at a press conference on Friday.
The orders would have to be translated into official rules by the agencies and are unlikely to be in effect before the election. Still, Trump described the signing as a blow to seniors against pharmaceutical companies and foreign shippers.
The first of four orders will require discounts on insulin for hospitals to pass on to patients.
“These providers should not receive discounts for themselves as they charge their poorest patients with massive and comprehensive prices. Under this order, the price of insulin for affected patients will drop to just pennies a day from numbers you couldn’t even think of. It’s a massive cost savings, “said Trump.
Trump will also allow cheaper versions of the same prescription drugs to be imported from Canada, a proposal that pharmaceutical companies have reprimanded.
The Trump administration first launched a proposal to import low-cost drugs in July 2019. The proposal, the Safe Import Action Plan, required regulations to authorize state, wholesale or pharmacy plans to try to establish drug import programs that meet safety standards. from the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA would also work with manufacturers to ensure that drugs sold to foreign countries comply with FDA regulations that will be sold in the United States.
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a powerful drug lobbying group, has opposed importing drugs, citing potential health risks for American consumers. The Canadian government has also rejected the import proposals, saying the import would drain the country’s supply of prescription drugs.
Trump also revived a 2019 rule that never came to fruition after rejection by pharmacy benefit managers, who negotiate drug prices with insurers. The proposed rule would require PBMs in Medicare Part D to pass negotiated discounts with insurers directly to patients using those drugs, allowing Medicare beneficiaries to save money on drugs.
Trump said Friday that his new executive order would eliminate “intermediaries” and “intermediaries” and ordered Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar to “complete the rulemaking process that began.”
Just as they did in 2019, pharmacy benefit managers are expected to retaliate. The PBM sector has planned an advertising campaign to oppose any effort to cut reimbursements and play it as a political mistake that could drive up drug costs for the elderly in changing states before the November elections, Political reported.
“Brokers are making a fortune, and pharmacy benefit managers and people are simply cheating Medicare patients with these high drug prices while getting giant discounts, giant discounts,” he said.
The president will also implement a mandate for pharmaceutical companies to sell prescription drugs in the US at the same prices as in other countries, called the international drug price index or the “favored nations clause.” Trump has long denounced what he calls a “global free charge” system in which pharmaceutical companies can offer their products at a lower cost to other countries by charging more to the US. proposed The initiative in July 2019.
“It also means that taxpayers in the United States are effectively subsidizing the socialist health systems of foreign welfare states and many other countries,” Trump said. “We will end that abuse and restore the principles of free enterprise. … This has to do with common sense and courage, to be honest. ”
Trump said he will meet with pharmaceutical industry executives on Tuesday to discuss ways to cut drug prices and out-of-pocket costs. He added that if the talks are “successful,” the fourth executive order could be removed.
.
