President Trump on Friday will issue a proposal that would open the door for other countries to pay more for prescription drugs to reduce prices for U.S. residents, according to his health chief.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing that the administration would be “going after this question of foreign governments that free-ride off of American innovation.” Trump is expected to deliver remarks on drug pricing Friday, with Azar present.
Azar signaled that the U.S. would not be heading in the same direction as some other countries, where the government plays a more prominent role in setting drug prices, but would use the elements that already exist, including approaches to “make them better so we pay less and of course get foreign governments to pay more.”
“Some of our plans and some of our approaches actually drive as good or better deals as some of the socialist systems abroad,” Azar said. “And in other parts and programs and for other medicines foreign governments, socialist, single-payer systems, get a better deal. Often that deal comes at the cost of rationing and access and patients who are suffering from cancer or HIV/AIDS or MS or rheumatoid arthritis they can’t get access to the medicines that you can here in the United States because that’s exactly what the socialist systems do.”
Azar provided other details about the speech, saying that Trump will explain how bringing more generic drugs to the market faster can help lower prices for patients, and that the goal of his initiatives would be to balance “the need to support innovation and the development of the next generation of therapies” with patient access, including affordability.
Trump also will use the speech to ensure that government programs have better tools to negotiate drug prices and that the government would shift incentives for drugmakers so that they don’t always lean toward higher list prices. Patients, Azar said, “are being asked to assume more of the costs of drugs when they show up at the pharmacy or get the bill at the hospital or doctor’s office.”
Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who had asked Azar to provide more details about the drug pricing plan, encouraged him to think about people who are uninsured, noting that this group of patients are often asked to pay the list price.
“We need to make sure we are aware of that,” Blunt said.
Later in the hearing, Azar confirmed to Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., that Trump also would address pharmacy benefits managers, the drug middlemen who negotiate discounts from drugmakers. The group has come under by government officials saying they have not passed those discounts on to consumers.
Azar said Trump would address “every element of the pharmaceutical pricing channel, including those who negotiate for very many of us.”
“They serve a very important purpose, but I think it’s important we address incentives that are in the system: Who are they working for? Who are they being paid by and whom to the savings go to?” Azar said.
