President Trump signs executive order to lower Rx prices
The order directs the Department of Health and Human Services to take steps to significantly reduce drug prices for American patients.
On April 16, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to lower prescription drug prices.
The order directs the Department of Health and Human Services to take steps to significantly reduce drug prices for American patients.
[Read more: Americans surprised by Rx costs, rarely talk to pharmacists, doctors about challenges]
The White House issued a fact sheet which said the EO delivers lower drug prices for Medicare and the seniors who rely on it by:
- Improving the Medicare Drug Pricing Negotiation Program in order to eclipse the 22% in savings achieved in the program’s first year.
- Aligning Medicare payment for certain prescription drugs with the cost by which hospitals actually acquire them, which can be 35% lower than what the government currently pays.
- Standardizing Medicare payments for prescription drugs, such as cancer treatments, regardless of where the patient receives care, which can lower prices by as much as 60%.
- It provides massive discounts to low-income patients for life-saving medications.
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- Insulin prices for low-income patients and the uninsured will be lowered to as low as $0.03, plus a small administrative fee.
- Injectable epinephrine for low-income patients and the uninsured will be as low as $15, plus a small administrative fee.
- Increases the availability of generics and biosimilars, which can be as much as 80% cheaper than brand alternatives.
- The Order builds off that critical work and reevaluates the role of middlemen by:
- Improving disclosure of fees that pharmaceutical benefit managers (PBMs) pay to brokers for steering employers to utilize their services.
- Directing the administration to develop reforms to promote a more competitive, transparent, efficient, and resilient prescription drug value chain.
- By addressing the influence of middlemen and promoting open competition, President Trump’s actions aim to create a fairer prescription drug market that lowers costs and ensures accountability across the health care system.
Click here for the Fact sheet.