PUTTING AMERICAN PATIENTS FIRST: Today, President Donald J. Trump is launching actions to confront global freeloading and lower drug prices for American patients.
- In order to confront global freeloading, President Trump is putting forth a new way for Medicare to pay for certain drugs that is based on prices other developed nations pay.
- The President’s initiative is projected to reduce Medicare’s payments for these drugs by an incredible 30 percent over the next five years.
- The President is also putting forward a plan to fix to the perverse incentive that encourages doctors to administer more expensive drugs, raising costs for taxpayers and seniors.
- Under President Trump’s initiative, doctors would receive the same reimbursement for similar drugs, eliminating an incentive to administer higher-cost drugs.
CHALLENGING FOREIGN FREELOADING: American patients and taxpayers unfairly subsidize worldwide drug innovation and effectively foot the bill for lower drug prices in foreign countries.
- Foreign countries currently get much lower prices from drug makers, putting the burden on American patients to subsidize these discounts by forcing higher prices on the United States.
- Nearly every developed country engages in this unfair practice, yet past administrations simply looked the other way.
- Some have even threatened American patents to secure these cheap prices.
- Medicare has shouldered outrageously high prices compared to other countries.
- Manufacturers charge American wholesalers almost double what is charged in other countries for the most common Medicare Part B drugs.
- One medication that helps prevent blindness costs Medicare over $1 billion a year, but it would cost just $187 million a year if we paid prices other countries pay.
- Medicare pays over $1 billion a year for two drugs that treat bone disease, but we could save more than $800 million by paying the prices others countries pay.
DRIVING DOWN DRUG PRICES: Today’s announcement is the latest bold action in President Trump’s unprecedented effort to lower prescription drug prices.
- Americans are already seeing real results thanks to President Trump’s efforts. In the 100 days following the release of the President’s sweeping blueprint to lower drug costs:
- There were 60 percent fewer brand-drug price increases and 54 percent more generic and brand-drug price decreases, compared to the same time period in 2017.
- More than a dozen drug companies reduced their list prices, rolled back planned price increases, or froze their prices for the rest of the year.
- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) set a new record for generic approvals last year, approving more than 1,000 generics that will bring an estimated $9 billion in savings in 2018.
- FDA continued this trend by setting another generic approval record in 2018.
- The President signed legislation to end unfair gag clauses, which prevented pharmacists from telling patients when they could pay less out of pocket rather than using insurance.
- The Trump Administration made reforms to stop hospitals from abusing the 340B program by overcharging seniors for their drugs, saving seniors $320 million just this year.
- The Administration has helped 45 million seniors on Medicare Part D and 20 million seniors on Medicare Advantage by giving those programs new tools to negotiate lower prices.
