President Donald Trump will take action on Medicare if pharmaceutical companies don’t lower prices across markets in response to his Monday executive order to slash prescription drug costs.
Trump signed an executive order Monday morning instituting a “most favored nation” policy under which Americans will pay “the same price as the Nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the World.”
“DRUG PRICES TO BE CUT BY 59%, PLUS!” Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday morning. “Gasoline, Energy, Groceries, and all other costs, DOWN. NO INFLATION!!! LOVE, DJT.”
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Trump signed a similar executive order in 2020 that called for linking drug prices under both Parts B and D to those paid by selected foreign governments.
Medicare Part B covers doctor-administered medications. Medicare Part D covers prescription medicines that senior beneficiaries typically pick up at neighborhood pharmacies. The government provides income-related subsidies to seniors, who shop for the private drug coverage that best meets their own needs.
That 2020 order resulted in a rule that was limited to Medicare Part B, but the executive order signed this morning is broader, according to a White House Official.
The Daily Signal asked the White House on a background call for reporters how the order would affect Medicare Part D. Medicare is where the United States government spends the most money directly on pharmaceuticals, a White House official said.
“We will be taking action in the Medicare program if the pharmaceutical companies do not come to the table and lower their prices across markets,” the White House official told The Daily Signal. “That’s obviously one of our biggest programs, and where Medicare Part B has been successful in incentivizing generic utilization, where, in many places, for 90% of prescriptions, we get very low prices.”
While 90% of prescriptions are generic, meaning developed to be the same as a medicine that has already been authorized, the expenditure on the remaining 10% of prescriptions is “enormous” and one of the main places the U.S. is getting “ripped off,” according to the White House official.
The official said future action on the Medicare program will be a key focus of the Trump administration.
Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell is the White House Correspondent for “The Daily Signal.”
Reproduced with permission. Original here: Trump to Act on Medicare If Big Pharma Doesn’t Comply With Order
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