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Anticipated Drug Price Strategy by Trump Aims to Force Pharmaceutical Companies to Match Prices with Those of Other Nations

Trump unveils strategy to decrease American prescription drug prices by linking the federal payout for certain medicines to prices set in foreign countries.

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U.S. prescription drug costs to be reduced as President Trump unveils strategy linking domestic...
U.S. prescription drug costs to be reduced as President Trump unveils strategy linking domestic prices to international ones.

Anticipated Drug Price Strategy by Trump Aims to Force Pharmaceutical Companies to Match Prices with Those of Other Nations

Let's Chat About Trump's Drug-Pricing Plan

President Donald Trump is cooking up a new scheme to shred the sky-high prescription drug bills in the U.S. By sending an executive order flying down the pike, Trump plans to mandate federal health officials to employ a "most favored nation" (MFN) pricing strategy for certain meds covered by Medicare.

This means the U.S. will cough up no more than the lowest prices paid by other wealthy nations, like Canada, Germany, and the UK, according to an insider. The order's expected to drop on week's first day.

Trump has danced with this plan before during his first term but didn't snatch the winner's crown. A federal judge put the brakes on his 2020 strategy due to a lawsuit from pharmaceutical bigwigs.

Medication costs in the States can fair cry higher than other similar countries, up to 10 times dollars more, claims the Rand Corporation, a public policy think tank.

The MFN policy would focus on the prices of Medicare Part B drugs, which are medications squirted in a health facility like chemo drugs. At the time, the administration estimated it'd sock away over $85 billion from U.S. taxpayers' wallets over seven years, if all went swimmingly.

However, details about Trump's revamped plan remain sketchy. The administration official verbally confessed that the proposal's still a work in progress and might get tweaked. The White House didn't respond to an inquiry about the issue.

Health policy pundits applaud Trump's guts to take on the drug companies, asserting U.S. taxpayers shouldn't bust their budgets on bloated prescription costs.

"I don't witness any hindrance for why prices should varoom all over the place, and we're hosed with the most expensive bills. If this plan can partly transform what is clearly a crisis, which is the out-of-control cost of meds as one significant source of inflation, I'm all for it," said Arthur Caplan, head of the medical ethics division at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City.

But critics aren't so convinced. Some worry the new plan won't survive the drug industry grinders.

"I'm unsure whether the new executive order will whiz by the drug industry," said Stacie Dusetzina, a health policy professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Tricia Neuman, executive director for the program on Medicare policy at KFF, a health policy research group, reckons the policy might win public support if it's rolled out.

Side Note:More than 75% of American adults say prescription medication costs are beyond their budget, reports a KFF poll. The health policy community thinks the MFN policy polls brightly but faces colossal opposition from the pharmaceutical industry. In a nutshell, the MFN plan proposes to tie U.S. government payments for some drugs to prices paid by foreign countries with comparable wealth to facilitate price parity and slash drug bills for Medicare patients.

Data Visualization:Why not zoom in on the measles outbreak in the States with this interactive map as we wait for the wag-the-dog antics in the drug pricing debate?

Women's Health:Might women with pelvic disorders suffer gaslighting from doctors? Yikes, a yikes indeed! Wanna read the dirty lowdown? Click here to get the full story!

Fun Fact:The annual revenue of the U.S. pharmaceutical industry stands at $1.2 trillion, according to IQVIA. If the nation loaded up on generics, they might save a whopping $500 billion in a decade, with the same treatment quality, asserts HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.

  1. President Trump's new executive order aims to announce a strategy that has insurance companies employing a "most favored nation" (MFN) pricing strategy for Medicare-covered medicines, mimicking the prices paid by other wealthy nations.
  2. The MFN policy, if implemented, would significantly reduce the high inflation of healthcare costs in the U.S., particularly focusing on Medicare Part B drugs.
  3. Arthur Caplan, head of the medical ethics division at NYU Langone Medical Center, supports President Trump's plan to lower prescription costs for Medicare patients as a way to alleviate the general-news crisis of out-of-control drug pricing.
  4. Stacie Dusetzina, a health policy professor at Vanderbilt University, voices skepticism about the new executive order, expressing uncertainty about its ability to withstand the resistance from the pharmaceutical industry.
  5. Tricia Neuman, executive director for the program on Medicare policy at KFF, believes the policy might gain public support if it's rolled out, recognizing its potential as an effective measure in the policy-and-legislation arena.
  6. More than 75% of American adults struggle to afford prescription medication costs, according to a KFF poll, making the MFN policy a promising step in addressing the health-and-wellness concerns of the general population.
  7. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra contends that if the nation adopted a more extensive use of generics, it could save $500 billion in a decade while maintaining the same treatment quality. This proposition emphasizes the substantial financial impact of the pharmaceutical industry on the U.S. economy.

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