Trump EO For World Price Controls on Drugs

I had two separate topics… sorry… first the news conference where Trump is going after US drug prices and trying to reduce prices and the offsetting tariff increase. It’s mind boggling.

 

Drug prices cut 1,500 percent. Does that mean the companies pay us to take them?

Donald Trump’s Latest Boast Breaks Math Brains Across The Internet

 

Sometimes I think the pharmacy companies just charge whatever they think they can get away with. A couple years ago the nurse practitioner in my cardiologist office wrote me a prescription for Farxiga. I told her no thanks I was tired of paying $60 a month after medicare and insurance paid their share. She said "let me see what I can do about that". She called me the next day and said they would start delivering it to my door every month no charge.

So let me get this straight, you have a drug that the pharmaceutical company is charging almost $1K a month for that after medicare and insurance is going for as little as $60 per month yet someone out there is willing to give it away for $0?

I just checked and the costs have come way down in the past couple of years and a lot of insurance companies are covering the full cost it still makes no sense to me. I checked and my insurance provider United Healthcare is now offering it for $0 copay but I'm not gonna say anything. I will continue to let the cardiology dept at Orlando Health provide me with home delivery for nothing.

 

Hmmm. This might not be so hard to figure out ....

Thanks Joe Biden!!!!!!

Wasn't it nice, for a little while, to have a president who actually gave a shit about doing things to help people?

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Here’s a list of drugs affected by Biden’s latest Medicare pharmaceutical price cuts


Farxiga
Manufacturer: AstraZeneca AB.

Conditions: Diabetes, heart failure and chronic kidney disease

Negotiated price: $178.50 for a 30-day supply

Reduction: 68 percent


Here's a list of drugs affected by Biden's latest Medicare pharmaceutical price cuts

 

NOT SO FAST, MY FRIEND! Donald Trump claims to have cut prescription drug prices by 1500%, meaning the pharmacy should have paid you to take your prescription. You just got ripped off. Either that, or the President of the United States is a blithering idiot . . .

It Seems Like The President Who Brags About How Smart He Is Cannot Do Arithmetic

 

No wonder Trump's Wharton School of Finance professor of economics said that Trump was, by far, the dumbest student he ever had.

 

Actually in 2022 when I was first on Farxiga the list price on it was $700+ but through my medicare advantage plan was like $60 per month. A year or so later when I refused to pay 60 a month any longer they dropped it to zero.

It makes no sense to me, they charge what ever they can get away with.

 

Thanks Joe!

 

Well they kind of did on account that I go to CVS so I got 17 feet of coupons.

 

1. Fire BLS chief, career statistician, for faking numbers
2. Days later claim you lowered drug prices 1,500%

 

if 'at won't get folks using drugs, I don't know what will.

 

He was reaching out to you Jo!

 

The great Democrat congressman Ro Khana created a bill to cotdfy Trump's executive order into law. He literally used the exact words from that order. We are at almost 3 months since the bill was created. Why has there been crickets from Trump and the Republicans?

 

Medicare was obviously paying a substantial amount, and likely still is even if your co-pay went from $60 to $0. $60 was the share YOU pay at point of sale, it isn’t what the pharmaceutical company received. The govt is picking up that tab at something closer to $700 list price. Nobody is magically sending you drugs 100% for free lol. What would be interesting is if your bill showed how much the govt paid, and out of that how much went back to the drug company vs how much went to Orlando Health. The $60 vs $0 is sort of irrelevant to that.

Most likely they either weren’t billing your Medicare advantage plan properly (so now that has been corrected the $60 is also picked up by your part D) or the pharmacy signed you up for some discount plan for low income seniors to cover the co-pay.

 

One of the supposed ways to lower drug prices was to allow them to come across from Canada and Europe to circumvent big pharma contracts locked in at high prices. I had mixed opinions on those ideas (seems like it would be begging for grey market or even counterfeit pills), but tarifing pharma makes no sense as plenty of 100% legit supply comes from overseas.

Pharmacy last I heard still was dealing with many supply chain issues from Hurricanes (all the way back from when Maria wiped out Puerto Rico!… and then Helene last year greatly disrupted an IV bag production facility in North Carolina). Tariffs will just lead to even more shortages and higher prices. It runs counter to the idea of lowering prices.