Trump Is Promising to Lower Drug Prices. Don’t Count on It

The Trump administration pledged this week to substantially reduce the high prices Americans commonly pay for their prescription drugs. It’s a promise that will undoubtedly come up short. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order laying out the steps that the federal government, via the Department of Health and Human Services, is planning to take to lower drug prices. While some of the proposals are sound, others are unlikely to move the needle. Trump and GOP lawmakers are also preparing to, or already have, enacted other measures that could very well raise drug prices for many Americans. A major plank of the executive order involves improving the Medicare Drug Pricing Negotiation Program: a Biden-era program that allows the government to directly negotiate the prices that Medicare will pay for some of the costliest prescription drugs on the market. The first round of negotiations occurred last year and resulted in ten drugs being discounted, though the price cuts ... Read full article.