Unable to come to an agreement with Congress on how to curb rising prescription drug prices, President Donald Trump announced four executive orders last week that he said would lower prescription drug prices to American consumers.
The orders:
- Direct federally qualified health centers to pass along discounts on insulin and epinephrine received from drug companies to certain low-income Americans.
- Allow, for individual state plans, the safe importation of certain drugs, authorize the re-importation of insulin products made in the United States, and create a pathway for widespread use of personal importation waivers at authorized pharmacies throughout the U.S.
- Prohibit secret deals between drug manufacturers and pharmacy benefit manager middlemen, ensuring patients directly benefit from available discounts at the pharmacy counter.
- Aim to ensure that the U.S. will pay the lowest price available in economically comparable countries for all Medicare Part B drugs. However, this order won’t go into effect until Aug. 24, to give Trump time to get input from the pharmaceutical industry on how they think the 80 percent more the U.S. pays for Part B drugs than other countries can be reduced.
“Today’s executive orders will deliver billions of dollars in discounts directly to patients at the pharmacy counter, safe low-cost imported drugs for Americans, the best deals for America on highly expensive drugs, and direct discounts passed on to patients on important drugs from community health centers," said Alex Azar, secretary of Health and Human Services.
However, Peter Maybarduk, director, Public Citizen’s Access to Medicines Program, said despite Trump’s bombastic bluster for more than three-and-a-half years, he’s failed to make any meaningful difference in the lives of people suffering as a result of prescription drug corporation price gouging.
