FACT CHECK: Prescription drug prices
TRUMP CLAIM: "I took prescription drugs, a very big part of health care, from the highest price in the entire world to the lowest."
FACT CHECK: Needs more context
Trump has pointed to lower prescription drug prices, citing discount arrangements such as his new website, which provides manufacturer discount prices, TrumpRX and direct negotiations with manufacturers. Some targeted reductions have occurred for people paying the cash price without any insurance, but overall drug prices in the United States remain high, and many patients still face significant out-of-pocket costs.
The administration secured lower cash prices for certain high-profile medications, including weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy and Zepmound, largely for uninsured patients or those paying outside of traditional insurance coverage. Ben Jolley, the senior fellow for healthcare at the American Economic Liberties Project, noted that manufacturers were already under competitive and political pressure to reduce prices in that category as more products enter the market. In addition, those discounts applied to specific purchasing channels and did not necessarily translate into broad reductions in insured patients' costs or overall list prices.
Meanwhile, some of the most substantial recent price cuts are the result of policies enacted before Trump returned to office.
For example, at the start of this year, Bristol Myers Squibb reduced the price of the popular blood thinner Eliquis by more than 50%; Eli Lilly and their manufacturing partners dropped the price of diabetes drug Jardiance by 66%. Jolley said that those changes largely reflect the Medicare drug price negotiation.
