Congressional Democrats are skeptical that President Trump’s Friday speech on tackling high drug prices will amount to real change, noting that he hasn’t embraced their ideas.
They pointed out during a press conference Thursday that Trump has said that pharmaceutical companies are “getting away with murder,” but he hasn’t translated that rhetoric into action.
“He talked the talk, but he has failed at least so far to walk the walk,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., referred to a $1.2 million payment from drug giant Novartis to Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen. He also pointed to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar’s prior work running the U.S. division of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly.
“There is no shred of evidence that tomorrow’s announcement will lead to one price decrease by Secretary Azar’s former colleagues in the pharmaceutical industry,” Wyden said.
Democrats have been livid that Trump has not embraced their proposed changes to grant Medicare the power to negotiate for lower drug prices. Instead, the administration has pushed changes to speed up approvals of generic drugs.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., recounted a meeting that he and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., had with Trump a year ago over the Democrats’ bill to give Medicare negotiating power. The two Democrats came away from the meeting enthusiastic, but Cummings said no action has been taken on their legislation.
“He ignored us, and since then, our bill has been collecting dust,” he said.
Azar gave a hint during a Senate appropriations hearing Thursday as to what the speech tomorrow will focus on. Trump is expected to issue a proposal that opens the door for other countries to pay more for prescription drugs as a way to reduce prices for U.S. consumers.
Azar said other countries get a better deal because of single-payer, government-run healthcare systems where they negotiate with drugmakers for much lower prices. He added that Trump also would focus on improving approval speeds for new generic drugs.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, said the approach to go after other countries is misguided.
“This is an illusion,” he said at the press conference. “Raising prices for consumers abroad will not mean lower prices for people over here in America.”
