Admin touts TrumpRX success: it’s a quick fix, not real progress!  

Remember when President Trump said this during his State of the Union address last month? “I took prescription drugs, a very big part of health care, from the highest price in the entire world to the lowest. That’s a big achievement.”  

It’s a strong line. It’s also not true.  

A new analysis from The New York Times, along with German outlets NDR and WDR, took a closer look at the administration’s new drug pricing platform, TrumpRx. What they found is that while some prices have come down, Americans are still paying significantly more than patients in other wealthy countries, especially places like Germany.  

And here’s why that matters: in Germany, patients often pay little to nothing out of pocket because the government negotiates prices and covers most of the cost. Even then, what their system pays is frequently lower than what the Trump administration negotiated here in the U.S.  

TrumpRx only covers a few dozen drugs out of thousands on the market. It leaves out many of the most commonly used medications and some of the most expensive medications, including many cancer treatments. Even among the drugs it does include, prices are often still higher than what patients pay overseas.  

The same goes for high-profile weight-loss drugs like Wegovy. Yes, prices in the U.S. have dropped recently, some by nearly half, but they’re still among the highest in the world. In some cases, Americans are paying double what patients in other countries pay out of pocket.  

To be fair, the administration has narrowed the gap in certain cases, particularly with generic drugs. But for newer, patent-protected medications — the ones that tend to cost the most — that gap is still very real.  

And that’s where the bigger issue comes in.  

Instead of pushing comprehensive legislation to bring down healthcare costs, the administration is leaning heavily on TrumpRx as proof of progress. But this isn’t a systemic fix — it’s a limited tool that still leaves Americans paying more than their peers abroad.  

At the same time, enhanced subsidies from the Affordable Care Act expired at the end of 2025. Those subsidies helped more than 22 million Americans afford coverage, and their expiration has caused premiums to more than double on average in 2026. That’s not a small policy shift, that’s a direct hit to household budgets.  

And while Democrats have pushed to extend those subsidies, most Republicans have opposed it, even though the biggest enrollment gains have been in red states.  

Then there’s the president’s proposed “Great Healthcare Plan,” which, as of now, is more of a concept than a concrete policy. It promises to lower costs but offers few details on how that would actually happen, and notably does not restore the subsidies that were already helping millions.  

So yes, Americans were paying the highest drug prices in the world. That part is true. But the idea that we’re now paying the lowest? The data just doesn’t back that up.  

And if the goal is real affordability — like, actual relief — then modest price tweaks and incomplete plans aren’t going to cut it.  

Lindsey Granger is a NewsNation contributor and co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising.” This column is an edited transcription of her on-air commentary.   

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