President Trump wants drug prices in the U.S. to be even lower than they are in other countries. (Photo: Shutterstock)
One of the Trump administration's main proposals to cut drug prices is being reworked by officials, even as a bipartisan Senate bill was blocked because it didn't go far enough.
The Hill reports that, according to Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, Trump wanted his proposal to go farther in cutting prices—seeking "most favored nation status," so that drug prices in the U.S. would end up even lower than they are in other countries.
The proposal being tweaked did lower prices, but not as much as the rework, since the earlier version just tied certain Medicare drug prices to lower prices paid in other developed countries. That arrangement has been termed the International Pricing Index.
"What we suggested was reducing that 180 percent premium [above other countries] by 30 percent," Azar said. "The president did not find that satisfactory. His view, which he has articulated publicly, is that America ought to be getting the best deal among developed countries. That was the terminology of 'most favored nation status.' And so that's the type of proposal we're working on."
Whether that proposal ever sees the final light of day remains to be seen, and meanwhile, progress in the Senate was stalled on a bipartisan measure to lower drug prices after Senator Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said that a bigger action was needed over what he termed the legislation's piecemeal approach.
The Hill said that Schumer objected to the measure that Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, wanted to pass by unanimous consent. Cornyn's bill, cosponsored with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, would crack down on drug companies that work the patent system to stall competition from makers of cheaper generic drugs.
Schumer didn't object to the principle of the bill, but said in the report that he opposed Cornyn playing a "little game" to get just his own legislation through without a broader effort to cut drug prices—which he said Republicans are blocking.
Calling attention to other proposed legislation, Schumer said, "We have a whole lot of legislative ideas, not just his. [Cornyn's] party blocks everything that would have far larger consequence." Schumer also asked why Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, had scheduled no drug-pricing votes—neither on Cornyn's offering nor on any others.
Cornyn said that any legislation would have to be bipartisan, and called attention to a proposal for Medicare to negotiate drug prices that doesn't have bipartisan support. "I'm not going to agree to price-fixing by the U.S. government," he told The Hill.
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Marlene Satter
Marlene Y. Satter has worked in and written about the financial industry for decades.
