WASHINGTON — Is there a Trump effect on drug prices?
President Trump has not yet made his much-ballyhooed speech on drug prices, and a rumored executive order never came to pass. And yet in Washington there are already suggestions among some administration officials that the political climate created by the president — to say nothing of his comments about drug makers “getting away with murder” — has helped keep prices in check.
“It looks like retail list price increases were flat last year. Is that because of President Trump’s tweets?” one Health and Human Services Department official asked at a briefing last month.
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Trump also promised to buck the NRA. That didn’t last long. The problem is the legislators have all been bought off. They won’t even allow medicare to negotiate for drugs. What we need is national health care. Big Pharma is part of the problem.
About the “sustained pressure” question, the key will be does a Big Pharma company [or their exec] get a nickname? That will be a true sign of trouble indeed. (If the speech isn’t postponed … indefinitely ….)