WASHINGTON — Sen. Bill Cassidy is the rare Republican who has long been open to drug pricing reforms, espousing the virtues of value-based payment arrangements and his home state’s newfangled “Netflix” model for funding hepatitis treatments.
As Cassidy has pushed for reforms, however, the rest of his party’s position on the issue has shifted under his feet, largely thanks to the Trump administration’s unpredictable and aggressive stance on efforts to lower drug costs. President Trump has espoused, for example, a far-reaching proposal to use foreign prices to cap some payments for drugs in the U.S.
Since the White House unveiled that proposal, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have run with the idea, while GOP lawmakers — Cassidy included — have voted to prohibit the administration from enacting it.
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