Trump's plan to lower drug prices

The president unveiled a much-anticipated "blueprint" to lower drug costs. Will it work?

President Trump.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

The smartest insight and analysis, from all perspectives, rounded up from around the web:

President Trump has "the power to sink pharmaceutical stocks" with a single tweet, said Katie Thomas at The New York Times. But when he unveiled a much-anticipated "blueprint" to lower drug costs last week, Trump "largely avoided the issues the industry fears the most." Gone were proposals that candidate Trump loudly supported in 2016 — namely, to allow Medicare to directly negotiate drug prices and permit Americans to import cheaper drugs from Canada. In their place were "light on detail" proposals to allow Medicare Part D plans to pay different amounts for the same drug, depending on the illness, and to permit patients to keep a portion of the rebates that are normally pocketed by insurers. Trump also vaguely suggested that countries with lower drug costs were "free-riding" off American innovation and should be forced to pay more. This speech was a "big win" for Big Pharma, said Vann Newkirk at The Atlantic. Nothing Trump said "challenged the pharmaceutical industry or the direct role it plays in setting prices."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us