The public strongly favors sweeping government action to lower drug prices, according to a new poll released Friday.
Seventy-nine percent agree that drug prices are “unreasonable,” the new Kaiser Family Foundation poll finds, up from 73 percent when the same question was asked in 2015.
The vast majority of Americans, about 88 percent, agree that drug companies should list prices in their advertisements.
There is also strong support for price negotiations between the government and pharmaceutical companies. 82 percent of seniors, the demographic most directly affected by changes to Medicare, are strongly in favor.
Democrats generally support that policy, and Republicans and the industry oppose it. President Trump has criticized drug companies for high drug prices and backed Medicare negotiating some drug prices. Support, though, drops when people are told that it could lead to less drug research.
About 24 percent of Americans have difficulty affording their medications, a figure that could help explain support for measures to lower prices.
About 80 percent support drug importation from licensed Canadian pharmacies, while about 65 percent are in favor of Medicare lowering payments for drugs based on prices that governments in other countries pay for them.
