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

The Trump administration this week promised to reduce high prices for their prescription drugs this week. This is a promise that will undoubtedly become short.

Tuesday, President Donald Trump Signed The Federal Government is planning to reduce drug prices through the Department of Health and Human Services, an executive order to determine the steps taken by the Federal Government. While some proposals are appropriate, others are less likely to remove the needle. Trump and GOP lawmakers are also ready to take other measures or are already there that for many Americans can increase the price of drugs very well.

Involves developed a large plank of executive order Medicare Drug Pricing Discussion Program: A biden-era program that allows the government to directly discuss the prices for some expensive prescription drugs in Medicare Market. The first round of discussion took place last year and as a result ten drugs were discounted, though the price decrease would not be effective until 2026. In the second phase of the discussion, 5 drugs are involved and this year will end, with a discount in 2028.

One of the most important drugs in this second round is semaglutide, Type 2 diabetes drugs active ingredients and ribblesus, as well as obesity drugs. Semaglutide-based drugs spend more than $ 1000 per month without insurance and many qualified patients cannot access them due to high list and lack of coverage. So if the price of the drug is truly deducted, it will represent a real success. But again, no such exemption will come up to Trump (optimistic) in the post of President until last year 2028. In the meantime, it has made his HHS Medicare people carrying these drugs stronger.

Currently, Medicare cannot directly cover any weight loss drugs, although it can provide coverage to people who take ozmpic and similar drugs for certain specific conditions such as diabetes or heart disease. Biden administration Proposed Last year a rule that ended this restriction and opened coverage to about millions of Americans in Medicare and Medicaid by 2026. Early this month, however, the Trump administration Dropped This is the proposal. HHS Chief Robert F. Kennedy State Last week considering any kind of “structure” to extend the administration coverage, although RFK Junior is itself Repeatedly questionable The value of these drugs in the past.

Another crush of the plan to reduce Trump’s price expressed concern over the so -called “Pill Penalty”. The drugs are not eligible for the discussion program until the drug is on the market for a certain period. For small molecular prescription drugs, usually pills are taken as pills, this delay is currently seven years (in fact nine years before the price decrease). However, for biologics — is also complex, expensive to produce products from expensive to injected-delay is 11 years (truly 13 years). In the executive order, the Trump program promised to “align treatment” of these two drugs.

But as David Dieren The possibility and others mentioned that the executive order does not really say that the HHS program will shorten the delay in biology eligible for the program. And the current pharmas-backed GOP bills are trying to solve this significance Expanded Exclusive duration of small molecules in combination with biology (tried to reduce the duration for both Democrats).

According to a KFF analysis published on Wednesday, a Four -year delay So far more than half of the drugs included in the discussion program, including semaglutide, were removed. Going forward, long exclusion for these drugs will spend a lot of possible savings of the government during the period of time, and in the end many Americans will hit their wallets.

In a statement on Wednesday, Senator Ron Wider (D-Oregan), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, Argument Trump’s Executive Order is confirmed only about weakening the drug’s value reform.

“Like his first term, all the bark and no bite like Trump, like his first term, when the prescription drug costs come down,” Wide said. “This executive order is spreading with goodies that the big pharma is begging, initially weakens Medicare’s discussion, which means that American seniors and families are about to be higher prices, when the drug companies will get the flow of $ 10 billion.”

There are some good ideas located in the executive order, such as reducing the cost of insulin, trying to ease the import of drugs for the states (an initiative of the first Trump), or accelerating the approval of generic drugs. Even these proposals are eroded by the activities taken by the White House elsewhere.

For example, the FDA has dismissed as part of a Doge-ordered “reconstruction” of about 20% of its staff forces, which contains Already disrupts its power To make the process of potential drug approval. And have administration The foundation began to work Imported drugs in the United States need to impose tariffs, which may be high expenditure and drug deficiency, especially for it GenericThe

Nothing about Trump’s past or recent track records implies that prescription drugs in America are about to be significantly cheap. And if we are really unfortunate, some drugs can soon become more expensive.