He just announced something about forcing coverage for pre-existing conditions, as well as introducing something called favored nation pricing, which makes it so that drug companies who sell drugs cheaper to another country must give that same cheaper price to America.
He also signed the executive order about lowering drug prices and I think he is working on an executive order to require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions.
Well, the most recent and substantive thing was that on July 24 Trump signed a multi-part Executive Order that basically did the following:
Allows any state or federal agency to purchase drugs from Canada at 70-80% less than what US companies charge (same drug, but US companies couldn’t buy them because of import restrictions designed to prevent price competition).
Rules that insulin and Epi-pens must be passed at wholesale cost along the entire supply chain, meaning there’s no incentive to pass the product through a dozen different middlemen with each step adding costs and profit margin since they have to sell it for whatever was paid to the actual manufacturer.
Ordered MediCare, by far the biggest purchaser of drugs on the planet, to set its rates using “most favored nation” standards. Right now we are effectively subsidizing drug prices for the entire world (notably many countries with “free” healthcare) because MediCare pays $7-8/pill that other countries are able to negotiate to buy for $1/pill. The end result is their prices will go up to $2/pill but ours will come down to $2/pill as well, so it should translate into massive savings for the US.
The last point technically doesn't go into effect until Aug 25, with the intention being that it would give the pharmaceutical industry time to propose alternatives. It looks like instead they are throwing millions into an ad campaign to try to convince the public that if they can't price gouge they won't be able to afford to develop a vaccine for COVID, boo hoo.
He just announced something about forcing coverage for pre-existing conditions, as well as introducing something called favored nation pricing, which makes it so that drug companies who sell drugs cheaper to another country must give that same cheaper price to America.
And epipens
He also signed the executive order about lowering drug prices and I think he is working on an executive order to require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions.
Well, the most recent and substantive thing was that on July 24 Trump signed a multi-part Executive Order that basically did the following:
Allows any state or federal agency to purchase drugs from Canada at 70-80% less than what US companies charge (same drug, but US companies couldn’t buy them because of import restrictions designed to prevent price competition).
Rules that insulin and Epi-pens must be passed at wholesale cost along the entire supply chain, meaning there’s no incentive to pass the product through a dozen different middlemen with each step adding costs and profit margin since they have to sell it for whatever was paid to the actual manufacturer.
Ordered MediCare, by far the biggest purchaser of drugs on the planet, to set its rates using “most favored nation” standards. Right now we are effectively subsidizing drug prices for the entire world (notably many countries with “free” healthcare) because MediCare pays $7-8/pill that other countries are able to negotiate to buy for $1/pill. The end result is their prices will go up to $2/pill but ours will come down to $2/pill as well, so it should translate into massive savings for the US.
The last point technically doesn't go into effect until Aug 25, with the intention being that it would give the pharmaceutical industry time to propose alternatives. It looks like instead they are throwing millions into an ad campaign to try to convince the public that if they can't price gouge they won't be able to afford to develop a vaccine for COVID, boo hoo.
The biggest thing he did was mention hydroxychloroqine.