Another case in which WISN-1130's on-air twits are simply wrong. They don't believe Trump can force drug prices down.
...Trump’s executive order dared [drug manufacturers] to put their drugs where their big fat mouths are: if drugmakers really can offer the lowest global prices when there’s no insurance bureaucracy in the way, then do it— right to the consumer. It actually drops the hammer on both sides of the supply chain. Pharma can now prove it’s not the price-gouger, while middlemen are put on notice: cooperate with MFN pricing, or get completely cut out of the deal.
If that doesn’t work, then the sledgehammer could fall. “The HHS Secretary shall propose a rulemaking plan to impose most-favored-nation pricing,” the order said. It also directed HHS and the FDA to start fast-tracking waivers allowing Americans to buy drugs from overseas suppliers. In other words, it told Big Pharma: Either sell at MFN prices voluntarily, or we’ll let Americans buy your drugs directly from other countries at those prices anyway.
In a major escalation from his drug price-lowering policies from Trump 1.0, the order also directed the DOJ to pursue antitrust prosecution against anyone —drugmakers, PBMs, or even foreign governments—who interfere with MFN pricing or direct-to-consumer programs....
It would be nice if Congress backed all this up with legislation.
But Congress is owned, lock/stock/barrel, by three lobbies: Big Pharma, the Military-Industrial Complex, and AIPAC. Not even Government Employee Unions have that traction.
So Trump has to go it alone.
We voted for that!
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