Assessing the President’s Drug Deals |
President Trump announced Friday that his administration has reached an agreement with nine additional pharmaceutical companies to offer some of their drugs at discounted prices. The move is part of Trump’s “most-favored-nation” pricing initiative for prescription drugs, aimed at cajoling developers to charge comparable prices in America as they do in other developed countries.
The White House initially sent letters to 17 major drug companies demanding that they lower prices, threatening them with government action if they did not comply. Five companies reached agreements to do so in the past several months. The nine developers newly on board bring the total to 14. Three remaining firms — AbbVie, Johnson & Johnson, and Regeneron — have yet to join.
These agreements will undoubtedly be advertised as a policy to reduce health care costs as Democrats pummel Republicans on the issue in Congress. It should also assist Trump’s grudging new message of “affordability,” which his advisers are forcing him to talk about despite his insistence that it’s a left-wing hoax. But, looking at the details, most Americans shouldn’t expect to see much actual savings on their pharmaceutical bills — and, therefore, drug companies shouldn’t expect to lose much revenue.
The New York Times reports:
Under the arrangements, the manufacturers will offer some of their drugs through websites where Americans can bypass insurance and........