Trump demands lower drug price bill
In State of the Union, Trump defends against 'socialist takeover' of health care
President Trump challenged Congress in his State of the Union address to lower drug prescription costs. “Get a bill on my desk and I will sign it into law immediately."
Trump said he has been working with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) “to get something done.” In December, Grassley announced an agreement was reached to “fund critical, expiring health care programs” as part of his Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act, co-sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Or).
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Lowering drug prices was a campaign promise for candidate Trump and has been a frequent target during his administration. In December he issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that would allow for the importation of certain prescription drugs from Canada.
Despite his call for bipartisan cooperation on health care, he targeted some of the health care plans of some who are looking to replace him. Without mentioning the names of presidential hopefuls Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) and Elizabeth Warren who have been pushing potentially budget-busting Medicare-for-all plans, Trump talked about the proposed “socialist takeover of our health care system” and promised those in the House chamber and those watching and listening “we will never let socialism destroy American health care.”
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While still not unveiling a plan to replace the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare (the White House website notes that in 2018, only 12.5 million people were enrolled in Obamacare-compliant plans, falling far short of CBO’s 2013 projection of 27 million), the Trump administration has released several announcements/plans. Most recently:
- The Healthy Adult Opportunity (HAO) initiative would allow states to offer patients more benefits while controlling government spending via “block grants” that would revamp Medicaid by letting states opt out of part of the current federal funding program and instead seek an annual fixed payment. However, the plan was not without its critics and the nonpartisan, nonprofit Kaiser Health News recently reported how it could adversely impact the poor.
- The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is in the process of finalizing a rule that will require hospitals to make prices publicly available online. Several health care groups, led by the American Hospital Association, sued HHS claiming it would confuse patients, hinder competition and damage hospital operations. The suit also claims the Trump administration’s rule violates the First Amendment because it forces hospitals to reveal confidential information.
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- A rule to require insurance companies and group health plans to provide cost estimates to enrollees in advance of care by the administration has also been met with resistance. In a 56-page letter last week to Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, the CEO of the America’s Health Insurance Plans, Matthew Eyles, wrote his lobby group supports “the goal of empowering Americans with easily accessible cost and quality information to make more informed decisions" but says the plan as currently written “fails to advance key consumer goals and oversteps the government’s statutory authority.”
- In October, he signed an executive order to improve seniors’ health care and improve the fiscal sustainability of Medicare by offering more plan choices, more access to telehealth and new therapies.