WASHINGTON — President Trump used the swearing-in of the new secretary of health and human services as an opportunity to decry high prescription drug prices and pledge to bring them down — an intention he has long trumpeted but on which he has yet to follow through.
“He’s going to get those prescription drug prices way down,” Trump said as he introduced Alex Azar at the White House Monday.
In a tweet Thursday evening, Trump indicated he supported Pelosi’s bill. “The American people need Congress to help,” he wrote. “I like Sen. Grassley’s drug pricing bill very much, and it’s great to see Speaker Pelosi’s bill today. Let’s get it done in a bipartisan way!”
Anybody who thinks deregulation is the answer has forgotten Thalidomide.
Julie, the Amendments that followed the thalidomide tragedy created one in the U.S. In the early 1980s, we knew that the B vitamin folic acid could prevent birth defects in babies. The Amendments resulted in the FDA stopping folic acid manufacturers from advertising this to consumers for over a decade. As a result, about 10,000 American babies were needlessly born deformed and many more were aborted. Overall, the Amendments have cost about half of the Americans who have died since then to lose about a decade of their lives. Bad law is just as deadly as bad drugs.
I think trump is a great president and will make America back into the strong powerful country we all know and love
The only way to lower prescription drug prices without slashing innovation is to stop the exponential increase in regulatory costs.
Prescription drug expenses are only a bit above 10% of overall healthcare expenses. Good initiative to bring drug price down, but its a small piece of the pie. People won’t see material impact on their healthcare expenses (including premiums) if problem is not tackled more comprehensively. This effort feels like a PR gig and shifting attention to scape goats, while not truly addressing the problem of growing healthcare expenses.
Easier said than done. Political might of the Pharma lobby will eat them alive. We ain’t seen anything like this lobby yet. Linked might be of interest.
Comparison of Drugs Prices: US vs. India; Their Manufacturing Costs & Opportunities to Improve Affordability: https://pharmachemicalscoatings.blogspot.com/2018/01/comparison-of-drugs-prices-us-vs-india_89.html