President Trump urged Congress on Monday to codify a series of pricing deals he struck with major drugmakers, saying consumers deserve to enjoy the world’s most favorable prices in perpetuity.
Mr. Trump told lawmakers to act after announcing that nine additional drugmakers agreed to offer their products at the lowest cost paid by other developed nations.
The new deals cover drugs that control seizures, fight bacterial and parasitic infections and support people who’ve had organ transplants.
The addition of Alcon, Astellas Pharma, BeOne Medicines, BridgeBio, CSL, Kyowa Kirin, Sun Pharma, Teva Pharmaceuticals and UCB brings the total number of drugmakers in Mr. Trump’s program to 26.
“We want to make it permanent,” Mr. Trump said of his company-by-company pricing deals.
Mr. Trump said he could not imagine a future president letting drug prices rise again by allowing the deals to fall apart. “It’s still a good idea to have it codified, to have it approved by Congress,” he said.
Mr. Trump’s “most favored nation” pricing system allows Americans to buy certain drugs at the lowest cost that other developed nations enjoy. The deals are expected to save Americans more than $600 billion over the next decade.
The president said he deserves more credit for historic decreases, which mainly apply to direct-to-consumer purchases among uninsured Americans who pay cash and see large discounts on the TrumpRx website.
Manufacturers also agreed to make select drugs available at most-favored prices for state Medicaid programs, a significant development.
Some experts warn that the plan is not a holistic solution to high drug prices, because insured Americans will probably stick to regular paths of purchase for their medicines instead of paying drug companies directly.
Instead, the target customer for Trump RX might be someone who does not have health insurance, but needs a certain drug at a more affordable price.
Mr. Trump said his plan is better than the government-run, Medicare-for-all programs pushed by liberal lawmakers and candidates.
“This is something that works,” Mr. Trump said.
“You’d have to quadruple taxes,” he said of liberal plans, and said people with private health insurance would “lose all of that.”
Also, administration officials said the standard of health care is lousy in government systems.
Affordability is the big buzzword of this midterm election cycle.
Public polling has shown that voters stress the economy and the cost of living over other issues.
Mr. Trump blames Democrats for high inflation that peaked at 9.1% under President Biden.
Inflation rates have stabilized in recent months, and some high prices, such as prices for eggs, dropped during the first weeks of Mr. Trump’s second term.
Democrats criticize Mr. Trump for breaking his promise to reduce prices, with inflation still topping 3%, above the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%.
They also blame Mr. Trump for exacerbating the problem with sweeping tariffs and the war in Iran, which increased oil and gasoline prices.
The average U.S. price of gasoline has been pinned above $4 for most of the summer, compared to about $3 when the war began, according to the AAA motor club.
