President Trump said Thursday that his administration would send Medicare beneficiaries charge cards with $200 available to spend on prescription drugs.
“Under my plan, 33 million Medicare beneficiaries will soon receive a card in the mail containing $200 that they can use to help pay for prescription drugs. Nobody’s seen this before,” Trump said during a campaign stop in North Carolina.
In unveiling his America First Healthcare Plan, Trump pledged that he would decrease prescription drug prices for Medicare enrollees. He added that he will lower insulin costs by about 66%.
The proposal lay out details for how the cards would be distributed or funded.
“We’re putting into place the largest package of saving for seniors of any administration in history,” Trump said.
Trump has made similar promises in the past to cut the cost of prescription drugs for older people and has touted his administration’s role in lowering Medicare Part D drug coverage premiums.
“As long as I’m president, no one will lay a hand on your Medicare,” Trump said. “Your Medicare is going to be safe.”
Trump also announced that his administration has taken action to enact a drug importation plan that would allow pharmacy wholesalers to purchase cheaper versions of Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs from Canada. He also included the drug importation proposal in his July executive orders, but the Department of Health and Human Services has yet to approve a plan to import FDA-approved drugs. Still, Trump said his proposal “goes into effect as of today.”
The Trump administration laid out two drug importation pathways in December last year. One would allow states to submit plans to HHS to implement time-limited importation programs. The second would allow drug manufacturers to import and market FDA-approved drugs in the United States that were manufactured abroad and intended to be marketed and authorized for sale in a foreign country. Neither program has been approved and implemented.
