Trump To Pitch Sweeping Medicare Drug Price Plan

President Donald Trump plans to revive an effort to dramatically slash drug costs by tying the amount the government pays for some medicines to lower prices abroad, three people familiar with the matter told POLITICO.

Trump early next week is expected to sign an executive order directing aides to pursue the initiative, called "most favored nation," for a selection of drugs within the Medicare program. The idea would use the administration's authorities to force prices down.

The proposal has not been finalized and could still change as aides work through the specifics, said the people involved in the plan, who were granted anonymity to describe internal deliberations. Trump has not yet personally approved the plan.

The president on Tuesday teased a “very big announcement” within the next week that one of the people familiar characterized as a reference to the drug pricing proposal. The other two did not know whether it was the big announcement but confirmed the drug price plan was likely to be announced in the next week.

“We’re going to have a very very big announcement to make - like as big as it gets,” Trump said. “It will be one of the most important announcements that have been made in many years about a certain subject.”

Should Trump go ahead with the order, it would represent a major confrontation between the White House and the deep-pocketed pharmaceutical industry.

Trump announced plans for a similar initiative in 2018, but failed to gain traction in the face of sharp resistance from the drug industry. He later tried to push the policy through in the final months of his first term. But a judge halted the effort after determining the administration failed to follow the proper processes for implementing it, and the incoming Biden administration opted to rescind the policy.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday was coy about the proposal.

“The President will make a big and historic announcement on Monday. Until then, everyone can keep guessing!” she said.

Within the West Wing, Trump has grown increasingly focused in recent weeks with lowering drug prices, urging aides to find policies capable of making a big dent in the cost of medicines, according to two of the people familiar with the matter.

Trump’s poll numbers have suffered in recent weeks since his tariff policies have begun to rattle markets and raise fears of widespread inflation and shortages of consumer goods.

White House officials initially pressed congressional Republicans to draft in their megabill a "most favored nation" provision tying the cost of medicines in Medicaid to the lower prices developed countries pay abroad.

But that bid ran into opposition across the GOP conference, and is unlikely to be included in the legislation, said one of the people familiar with the matter.

The White House is instead now expected to try to advance the drug price proposal on its own, using existing authorities to impose its "most favored nation" model.

The effort, if finalized, would likely draw massive opposition from a drug industry that has warned the idea would decimate companies' ability to develop new drugs. It could also trigger fresh legal challenges.

Trump’s order this go-around will look largely similar to his first, with even less specifics on which direct medicines are targeted, said one of the people familiar.