The sources say President Trump is taken steps to restart a project meant to cut drug prices by aligning the U.S. price of selected medicines with those in other nations.
Trump is set to issue an executive order soon, ordering his administration to apply the “most favored nation” policy to some drugs on the Medicare list. The initiative is meant to push down costs by using powers that the president already has, the sources told the outlet.
The proposal is not complete and could be revisited as White House officials keep working on the small points, those involved in the process said anonymously. So far, President Trump has not approved the plan, according to Politico.
Trump teased an upcoming “significant” announcement on Tuesday in a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office, and one source said this is probably about the drug pricing change. The other sources did not confirm the link, yet they agreed that it is likely to be revealed shortly.
Trump said, “We’re going to announce something that will be as big as it can get.” It is expected to be one of the key announcements made recently about this field.
If Trump issues an executive order, it is likely to bring about an important conflict between the government and the strong pharmaceutical industry.
In 2018, Trump came forward with a similar plan, but drug makers blocked it from moving forward. He made another effort to carry out the policy near the end of his first term, but a federal judge prevented it by deciding the administration didn’t follow the right rules. Politico noted that in the end, the Biden administration revoked the policy.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt did not give many details about the new proposal on Wednesday.
Monday will see the President reveal a major announcement. Everyone can speculate until the time comes,”she replied.
Trump, from the White House, has recently asked aides to explore ways of greatly decreasing drug prices.
According to the report, the White House first asked Republicans in Congress to include a “most favored nation” provision in their bill, linking how much Medicaid pays for medicines to what is spent in leading nations. Even so, opposition from the Republican conference is expected to prevent the plan from being included within the final bill, according to one Politico source.
According to the outlet, the White House plans to use its existing powers to put the ‘most favored nation’ plan in place. “If the effort goes ahead, the big drugmakers are certain to object, claiming that the idea would make it a lot harder for them to develop new medicines. This could lead to new legal problems that need to be addressed.
Just like the previous order, Trump’s new version is expected to focus on direct medicines, with even fewer outlined exceptions, a person familiar with the matter said.
Outside, Trump released calls for judges in Trump Social posts and posted that the judiciary is preventing him from doing what he pledged to do when he was elected.
Trump mentioned Lanahan as a “true patriot” when he nominated her as a U.S. District Court judge in a Tuesday tweet.
Posting about Judge Cristian Stevens, Rhea Anonymous referred to him as a “great patriot,” since he now presides over the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District.
