President Donald Trump is calling for him to fight rising prescription drug prices in a new executive order he signed on Tuesday.
The order directs Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Department of Health and Human Services (DHS) to standardize Medicare payments for prescription drugs, including those used in cancer patients, even when patients are in treatment. This could reduce patient prices by 60%, according to the White House fact sheet.
Similarly, the order requires that Medicare payments for certain prescription drugs be matched with the prices hospitals pay for these drugs. This is up to 35% lower than what the government pays to acquire those drugs, the White House said.
The order also takes steps to lower insulin prices. Specifically, according to the White House fact sheet, they are seeking lower insulin prices for low-income or uninsured patients, and they are seeking to treat epinephrine that can be injected with injectable epinephrine in combination with an allergic reaction low of $15.
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The order directs Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Department of Health and Human Services (DHS) to standardize Medicare payments for prescription drugs. (istock/getty)
Additionally, the order seeks to lower state drug prices by “promoting import programs that can save state prescription drug prices.”
The order also requires DHS to request comment on the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program. This would allow the Biden administration to approve under the Inflation Reduction Act, allowing Medicare to have a direct hash of prescription prices with pharmaceutical companies.
“This guidance will improve transparency in the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, prioritizes the selection of prescription drugs at high costs and minimizes the negative impact of the greatest fair price on drug innovation in the United States,” the order said.
Drug prices have increased significantly in recent years. Prescription drug prices rose by more than 15% between January 2022 and January 2023, averaged $590 per person, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Of the 4,200 prescription drugs on that list, 46% of price increases exceeded inflation.
Previous efforts under the first Trump administration included suppressing prescription drug prices being placed on the $35 cap on insulin’s Medicaid prescription drug regime.
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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will be greeted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a campaign event at Desert Diamond Arina in Glendale, Arizona on August 23, 2024. (Tom Brenner of the Washington Post by Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Trump’s 145% tariff on China’s imports into the US could mean that healthcare costs are particularly susceptible to price increases. Market Research Group’s Black Book Research found that a survey released in February showed that 84% of experts predict that medical procedures and drug prices will rise due to tariffs.
Additionally, Trump on Monday signaled that drug tariffs were heading towards the pipeline.
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“We’re not making our own drugs anymore,” Trump told reporters Monday. “The pharmaceutical companies are in Ireland and in many other places in China.”
Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday, calling for others who are seeking to prevent illegal immigrants from accessing Social Security benefits, and to investigate the impact of imported processed minerals on national security.
Tuesday’s executive order comes days after the Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services told the state on Thursday that the federal government would suspend assistance to states to fund non-health services aimed at something like nutrition for those registered with Medicaid.
Alec Schemmel of Fox News contributed to this report.
