WASHINGTON — President Trump’s plan to bring down the price of prescription drugs, released as part of his administration’s budget proposal Monday, made no mention of what his health secretary said is the “most important thing”: lowering the actual list prices drug makers set for their products.
Instead, the proposals are a hodgepodge of relatively narrow policies that take aim at various parts of the Medicare and Medicaid programs. One would reduce the amount of money doctors and hospitals are reimbursed for hospital-administered drugs under Medicare Part B; another would let some states engage in more aggressive negotiation for drugs in their Medicaid programs. Others take aim at a drug discount program for hospitals and at seniors’ out-of-pocket spending.
That’s a far cry from what Alex Azar, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, told senators at his confirmation hearing last month that he wanted to accomplish.
Trump and his friends in the pharma industry have no intention of bringing down prices. This is just another dodge and weave from the worst President ever. Did anyone really believe Alex Azar’s testimony in his confirmation hearings?? Hopefully the country will survive for another 3 years.