The order would cut drug prices by 30% to 80% for American families.
On Sunday, President Trump posted on social media, “Our Country will finally be treated fairly, and our citizens Healthcare Costs will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before.”
On Monday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that would cut prescription drug and pharmaceutical prices “almost immediately, by 30% to 80%.”
As part of Trump’s broader goal to lower costs for the American family, the president focused on drug prices that are higher in the United States than in other countries.
Prior to signing the order on Monday, Trump explained, “Basically what we’re doing is equalizing.”
“American patients were effectively subsidizing socialist healthcare systems,” he said.
The order directed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to facilitate direct-to-consumer purchasing programs for manufacturers to sell pharmaceutical products to American patients at the “most-favored-nation price”.
The order also ordered officials to communicate price targets to drug companies.
If drug manufacturers do not offer U.S. patients the “most-favored-nation lowest price”, the administration will take “additional aggressive action”, according to the order.
“Americans will no longer be forced to pay almost three times more for the exact same medicines, often made in the exact same factories. As the largest purchaser of pharmaceuticals, Americans should get the best deal,” the executive order says.
The executive order would tie U.S. drug prices to those generally lower prices paid by patients in other countries, typically in government-run health systems.
In the United States, the list price for diabetes medication Jardiance was $611 for a 30-day supply last year. According to analysis, the same drug was $70 in Switzerland and $35 in Japan.
Trump previously proposed the “most-favored nation” plan for Medicare during his first term. His plan was stopped by a federal court after drugmakers sued the administration.
