President Donald Trump, the man with the plan, says he’s gonna sign some executive order on Monday that could possibly bring down the costs of some medications. This ain’t his first rodeo, folks. He tried this in his first term and it didn’t quite work out, but hey, he’s back at it again. The order he’s talking about would tell the Department of Health and Human Services to link what Medicare pays for meds given in a doctor’s office to the lowest price paid in other countries.
“I’m gonna set up this MOST FAVORED NATION’S POLICY where the US pays the same price as the country that gets the best deal in the whole wide world,” the president posted on social media on Sunday. He’s all set to sign this order bright and early on Monday at the White House. Trump is all about fairness, saying that our country will finally be treated right and healthcare costs will drop like never before.
Now, this order might only affect certain drugs covered by Medicare and given in a doctor’s office, like infusions for cancer and other injectables. But hey, it could save the government some serious cash, even though Trump’s talk about “TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS” might be a bit of a stretch.
Medicare covers health insurance for about 70 million older folks in the US. Everyone knows that drug prices here are sky-high compared to other big, rich countries, and it’s always been a sore spot for both parties. But no one’s been able to figure out a long-term fix yet.
Under this new order, the government would base what it pays drug companies for those meds on what a group of other fancy countries pays — the “most favored nation” approach. The pharmaceutical industry ain’t gonna be happy about this. They’ve already put up a fight when Trump tried this back in 2020.
Trump signed a similar order at the end of his term, but then a court stopped it from happening under Biden. The drug industry says that letting other countries decide our drug prices isn’t cool and could mess with their profits and work on new meds.
Only drugs under Medicare Part B, the insurance for doc visits, would likely be covered. People on Medicare gotta pay for some of these meds during their visits, and there ain’t no cap on what they can spend in a year.
In his first term, a report from Trump’s team found that the US spends double what other countries do on these drugs. Medicare dropped over $33 billion on Part B drugs in 2021. Meds you pick up at a pharmacy probably won’t be part of this new order.
Trump teased a big announcement last week, swearing it wasn’t about trade or tariffs. He didn’t spill the beans, but he promised something huge was coming. He’s been calling out drug companies for years, saying they’re ripping off Americans while other countries get better deals.
On Sunday, he went after the industry again, saying they’ve been blaming high prices on research costs and making us suckers pay for it all. He called out their fancy lobbying and campaign contributions, saying they won’t work on him or the Republicans. Trump’s all about doing what’s right, or so he says.
