09/18/2020 / By Ethan Huff
President Trump has signed a new executive order to expand his efforts at lowering prescription drug prices for Americans.
Replacing the order he previously signed back in July, this new one now covers prescription drugs dispensed at pharmacies as opposed to just doctors’ offices and health clinics.
This means that Americans who are covered under Medicare Part D will now be able to take advantage of lower drug prices that match those paid by other countries for the exact same drugs, fulfilling one of Trump’s many campaign promises.
“Just signed a new Executive Order to LOWER DRUG PRICES!” Trump announced on Twitter.
“My Most Favored Nation order will ensure that our Country gets the same low price Big Pharma gives to other countries,” Trump added. “The days of global freeriding at America’s expense are over and prices are coming down FAST! Also just ended all rebates to middlemen, further reducing prices.”
Other countries have been paying much lower prices than the United States does for many of the most widely used drugs. And prior to Trump’s EO, there was no way to get them any lower since Medicare is prohibited from negotiating the prices it pays to drug makers.
All of that is now changing as Trump is basically forcing Big Pharma to give Americans the best prices it can – meaning the same prices other countries have been paying.
Since Congress has repeatedly refused to pass any drug price reform legislation, Trump decided to take matters into his own hands on behalf of the American people, easing the financial burden for lifesaving medications like insulin and EpiPens.
“These providers should not be receiving discounts for themselves while charging their poorest patients massive, full prices,” Trump stated about the need for his EO.
“Under this order, the price of insulin for affected patients will come down to just pennies a day from numbers that you weren’t even able to think about. It’s a massive cost savings.”
In addition to forcing the hand of pharmaceutical giants here in the U.S., Trump’s EO also opens the door to the import of prescription drugs from other countries like Canada, where drug costs are a fraction of what they are here.
Medicare will also be able to buy the same drugs from other nations at a major savings, helping to reduce overall costs both to patients and taxpayers.
Keep in mind that Trump gave Big Pharma a one-month deadline to fix this problem on its own, to which the industry responded by doing nothing. Consequently, Trump took action just as he promised to defend Americans against the drug industry’s predatory pricing models.
Responding to the news, several major drug giants are livid at Trump, accusing him of taking this action at a time when drug companies should be focusing on developing Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines to alleviate the plandemic.
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), a major drug industry trade group, issued a statement chastising the president for creating “a reckless distraction that impedes our ability to respond to the current pandemic – and those we could face in the future.”
Commenting on the news, readers of The Epoch Times expressed appreciation that Trump is holding true to his campaign promises, and not letting the American people down on important matters such as access to pharmaceutical drugs.
One wrote that after eight years under Obama and Biden, Americans “got nothing, except helping those two get richer.”
If you would like to learn more about how Big Pharma price-gouges the public for massive financial gain, check out BigPharmaNews.com.
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Tagged Under: Big Pharma, Donald Trump, drug prices, executive order, President Trump, Trump
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