Trump signed a sweeping executive order earlier this week aimed at lowering prescription drug prices through a “Most Favored Nation” policy. The order calls on the federal government to take action against discriminatory and unreasonable policies in other countries which suppress drug prices abroad, a move which the president has claimed could drop prices by between 59% and 90%.
Under the order, drug companies must offer the U.S. the same price being offered to the country being charged the least. As a result, prices may come down in the U.S., while prices may rise in other countries.
Kennedy promoted the plan in an opinion piece for Fox News published Saturday, calling it “a revolution in healthcare affordability.”
“The plan is simple yet transformative: ensure Americans pay no more for medications than citizens of other wealthy nations,” Kennedy wrote.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services heralded the success of the pharmaceutical industry for innovations, including in “cancer and autoimmune therapies that benefit patients worldwide,” but said the U.S. should not have to subsidize the industry disproportionately.
“We value continued innovation as a core American principle, but we cannot indefinitely subsidize global medical progress while other wealthy nations contribute disproportionately little,” Kennedy wrote.
“President Trump’s negotiation approach has already proven effective with NATO, where European countries responded to accountability by making historic reinvestments that strengthened the alliance. The same principle applies here. The President and I stand united: global free riding on American patients must end,” he added.
TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER LOWERING PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICES
Kennedy explained how pharmaceutical companies charged significantly more to American customers than those in other countries, such as the United Kingdom, for the same product, calling for the practice to end. He said while there has been an encouraging response from industry leaders, Kennedy is “prepared to act decisively if necessary.”
“The coming months will be decisive in achieving President Trump’s prescription for a healthier America—one where innovation thrives, and patients no longer shoulder an unfair share of the global healthcare burden,” Kennedy wrote.
