Trump can rein in healthcare costs AND win medical breakthroughs heres how

Of all the problems bedeviling the American healthcare system, the high cost of pharmaceuticals is one of those most commonly cited by patients.Polling finds that most Americans think drugs are too expensive, and they’re often right — even if pricey medications beat alternatives like surgery, hospitalization or living with pain.President Donald Trump has promised to implement healthcare reforms that both increase innovation and improve affordability.Some see these as contradictory pursuits — but when it comes to pharmaceuticals, both of the president’s goals can be achieved at the same time. This week the two of us, along with a team of top health and economic experts, launched Most Favored Patients, a working group aimed at developing reforms that will lower drug prices in ways that won’t hinder or delay new drug development.

 Before we suggest policies that could work, let’s be clear about what doesn’t: government-mandated price controls.Top-down edicts that remove the profit motive from drug research and development will do more harm than good, impeding the race to identify cures for cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, epilepsy and other cruel diseases. It’s a short-sighted solution, too: It ignores the reality that 93% of US prescriptions are for very cheap generics — indeed, cheaper here than abroad — that emerge after innovators earn the necessary returns on their investments.Instead, let’s try some innovations that make both medical and economic sense.First, do the easy stuff first and allow patients to buy medicines from pharmaceutical companies directly.Our recent poll of 1,000 battleground-state voters found overwhelming 86% support for this concept, which would lower drug prices by avoiding expensive retail markups imposed by insurance companies and others. Most voters also favor Trump’s intention to rein in costly middlemen like the highly concentrated pharmacy benefit manager industry, which negotiates drug prices for insu...