“The White House is moving forward with a plan to dramatically slash drug costs after talks broke down with the pharmaceutical industry’s major lobby.”
“President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday that he signed a new executive order for a ‘most favored nations’ plan. The president had signed a version of the directive more than a month ago but said he would hold it so industry could come up with an alternative.”
“The plan would tie payments for certain Medicare drugs to the significantly lower costs the treatments sell for abroad. Trump has touted the effort as a way to fix foreign ‘free riding’ and high costs paid by seniors.”
“Prices for drugs administered by doctors will be linked to a ‘most-favored-nation price’ drawn from the lowest price among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that have a similar per-capita gross domestic product, the executive order states.”
“The order directs federal health officials to carry out demonstration projects for Medicare Part B, a move that would bypass the monthslong process of rulemaking and could start the price cuts before Election Day.”
“It also would develop a similar rule for Medicare Part D, or those drugs that patients pick up at the pharmacy counter. The Part D rule would apply to drugs without much competition for which seniors pay prices higher than those in comparable OECD countries…” Read the full article here.
Source: Trump unveils plan to slash drug costs tied to what’s paid abroad – By Sarah Owermohle, September 13, 2020. POLITICO.
