President Donald Trump said the order would lower prescription drug prices from 30% to 80%.
President Donald Trump announced on May 11 that he would sign an executive order saying that he would lower the prices of prescription drugs “almost immediately.”
“We are pleased to announce at 9am tomorrow morning at the White House that we will sign one of the most consequential executive orders in our country’s history,” Trump said in a post on True Society.
“Prices for prescription drugs and drugs drop by 30% to 80% almost instantly. They will become equal and rise all over the world to bring equity to America for the first time over many years!”
He said this would be achieved by enacting the most favorable country’s policy, “The United States will pay the same price as the country that pays the lowest price in the world.”
The benefits of this move also apply primarily to the benefits of Medicare Part B, a federal insurance plan that offers coverage at monthly premiums. Drug policies in the country most preferred are requiring drug manufacturers to offer Medicare Part B the lowest price among certain peers for a slate of high-cost prescription drugs.
Trump was critical of the pharmaceutical industry in the announcement, saying businesses have forced Americans to bear the brunt of research and development costs for many years.
“Pharmaceutical companies/pharmaceutical companies will say that for many years, all of these costs have been supported by American ‘sucker’ for no reason,” Trump wrote. “The campaign contributions can be incredible, but we’re going to do the right thing, not with the Republicans, not with me. Democrats have been fighting for many years.”
Americans pay prescription drug prices higher than anywhere else in the world, according to a 2024 report from the Department of Health and Human Services. On average, it’s more than twice as much. For the most expensive drugs, the gap is even greater.
The executive order revives Trump’s 2020 plan, with similar parameters and that was in the middle of the rules-making process when he took office.
According to current plans, Medicare Part B must adjust for gross domestic product volume and differences before offering the lowest price for any of the listed drugs the manufacturer sells in certain peer countries.
Trump’s original plan, the seven-year pilot program, would have saved $87.8 billion for federal, state and Medicare beneficiaries during the testing period, according to the office of actuaries within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The plan proposed by Trump in 2020 faced four lawsuits and a nationwide interim injunction to prevent it from being implemented on a schedule.
Some bipartisan lawmakers are taking up the concept of countries most favored for drug pricing, independent of Trump’s executive order.
Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) introduced a bill on May 5th that prohibits the sale of prescription drugs in the United States at prices higher than the average charges charged in Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy and the UK.
The proposed law will punish offenders with a fine of 10 times the difference between the US price for each unit sold and the average of peer countries.
Holy said the bill was intended to build on Trump’s 2020 plan. “This bipartisan law will like big drugs, continue its work to make prescriptions affordable again and end the drug market where Americans can get the care they need,” Holy said in a joint statement with Welch.
“You should not be forced to choose whether to pay the required prescription or place food on the table,” Welch wrote, denounced the difference of up to five times between US drug prices and those charged elsewhere.
