Trump Promotes Program to Reduce Medicaid Drug Prices
President Trump announced on Friday that all 50 states said they wanted to participate in a program aimed at lowering the government’s costs for some prescription drugs covered under Medicaid, the health insurance program for lower-income Americans.In remarks in the Oval Office, Mr.Trump framed the effort as a way for states to save money that he suggested could be reinvested in health care.
During this midterm election season, he has trumpeted his efforts to reduce drug prices while appearing in swing districts in Pennsylvania, Michigan, New York and elsewhere around the country.“This one thing alone should win us the midterms,” Mr.Trump said, reiterating a sentiment he has repeatedly expressed.
He was flanked by top health officials and several Republican governors: Larry Rhoden of South Dakota, Tate Reeves of Mississippi and Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas.The program, called Generous, is a regulatory experiment intended for Medicaid to achieve Mr.Trump’s longstanding goal of equalizing drug prices paid by the United States with those paid by other wealthy countries.
Drugmakers that take part have agreed to align the prices they charge Medicaid for certain drugs with those in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan, Denmark and Switzerland.But it was not clear what effect the program would have.Drug companies already give Medicaid significantly lower prices than what American employers and other U.S.
government programs receive.And Americans covered under Medicaid already pay only a few dollars, or nothing at all, to fill their prescription drugs.
That won’t change under the new model.Not all of the prescription drugs paid for by Medicaid will be included in the program.It will include only medicines that are part of deals that many of the largest drugmakers have reached with the Trump administration, according to a White House official.
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