Donald Trump announces he will sign “one of the most important executive orders” in the country’s history
Washington, DC: To level the playing field and bring “fairness” to the US for the first time in many years, US President Donald Trump has announced that he will sign “one of the most consequential executive orders” in the nation’s history on Monday at 9 a.m. (local time). This order will aim to reduce prescription drug and pharmaceutical prices in the US by 30 to 80 percent almost immediately and will increase globally.
Trump announced the news in a post on Truth Social, his social media account. He promised to enact a “most favored nation’s policy,” according to which the US would pay the same amount as the country with the lowest pricing globally.
“The world has long questioned why prescription drugs and pharmaceuticals in the United States of America were so much more expensive than they were in any other country, sometimes being five to ten times more expensive than the same drug, manufactured in the exact same laboratory or plant, by the same company,” Trump wrote in a post shared on Truth Social.
Since there was really no right or proper response, it was always difficult to explain and very uncomfortable. For years, the pharmaceutical and drug companies would claim that it was due to research and development expenses and that the “suckers” of America alone were and would be responsible for paying for all of these expenses without any justification. Campaign contributions may work miracles, but not with the Republican Party or with me.
“The Democrats have struggled for many years to do the right thing, and we will do it. As a result, I am happy to declare that I will be signing one of the most important Executive Orders in the history of our nation tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. at the White House. Almost immediately, the cost of pharmaceuticals and prescription drugs will be lowered by 30% to 80%.
To bring equality and, for the first time in a long time, FAIRNESS to America, they will rise up all throughout the world! The United States will pay the same price as the country with the lowest pricing in the world under the most favored nation policy that I will be implementing. At last, our nation will be treated equitably, and the healthcare costs of its residents will be lowered by hitherto unimaginable amounts. Additionally, the United States will save trillions of dollars on top of everything else. I appreciate you taking the time to consider this. “Make America great once more,” he said.
Trump issued another executive order earlier in April to standardize Medicare payments for prescription medications, including those for cancer treatment, regardless of the patient’s treatment location. In a fact sheet at the time, the White House claimed that the directive may lower patient costs by up to 60%, according to Fox News.
According to the White House, the directive requires that the medical payment for certain prescription medications be matched with the hospital’s pricing, which may be up to 35% less than what the government pays to purchase such medications.
A White House information brief states that the directive lowers the cost of insulin. For example, the directive asks for injectable epinephrine for treating allergic reactions to be reduced to as low as USD 15 and insulin for low-income or uninsured patients to as low as 3 cents, along with a “small administrative fee.”
According to the White House fact sheet, the order also aims to lower drug costs in the United States by “facilitating importation programs that could save states millions in prescription drug prices” and supporting initiatives that help states negotiate Medicaid-covered sickle-cell drug prices.
According to Fox News, the order mandates that Health and Human Services solicit feedback on the Medicare medication Price Negotiation Program, which was authorized by the Biden administration under the Inflation Reduction Act and allows Medicare to directly negotiate prescription medication pricing with pharmaceutical companies.
The cost of medications has gone up dramatically in recent years. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, the average price of a prescription medicine product climbed by more than 15% between January 2022 and January 2023, reaching USD 590.