During his campaign for President, Donald Trump promised to let Medicare negotiate discounts on prescription drug prices. Trump even said the reason it hadn’t happened already was because of the control big drug companies exert on the political system.
But as President, Trump has refused to act on his promise, and yesterday Trump’ HHS Secretary admitted the Administration will never follow through.
SHOT: In 2016, candidate Trump fully backed Medicare negotiating drug prices. “The Associated Press quotes Trump as telling a crowd in Farmington, N.H., that Medicare, a huge buyer of prescription drugs, could ‘save $300 billion’ a year if it negotiated discounts.” [Politico, 1/25/16]
CHASER: Yesterday, former Eli Lilly executive, Sec. Azar blasted proposal for Medicare to negotiate drug prices. [Modern Health Care, 6/13/18]
While millions of American families pay higher drug prices, the Trump administration has thrown its lot in with PhRMA and the big drug companies, rewarding them with huge tax breaks and refusing to take real action to bring down costs.