Trump Admin Discovers Drug Price Cuts, Only After Leaving Office
According to The Hill, the Trump administration announced cuts for 15 Medicare drugs. While a win for seniors, this announcement came well after the opportunity to actually implement them. This 'negotiation' is purely performative, a phantom policy proposal for a general election, designed to appear impactful without the burden of executive action. It stands in stark contrast to the
administration's actual record of expanding corporate tax breaks, often benefiting pharmaceutical giants who then turn around and hike prices. One might wonder where this sudden urgency was during Trump's four years in office when drug price reform was, much like many campaign promises, largely ignored. Republicans, despite railing against high drug costs, consistently voted against bills that
would have concretely empowered Medicare to negotiate prices, like Speaker Nancy Pelosi's H.R. 3, the 'Lower Drug Costs Now Act,' which was passed by the House in 2019 but stalled in the then-Republican-controlled Senate.