BioCentury
ARTICLE | Politics & Policy

No price controls in Trump drug plan

May 11, 2018 6:59 PM UTC

President Donald Trump Friday announced a prescription drug pricing plan that seeks to increase pricing transparency, encourage Medicare to negotiate outcomes-based prices, and consider giving Medicare the ability to implement indication-based pricing. As expected, the plan does not include giving HHS power to negotiate Medicare Part D drug prices.

While Trump said his reforms “will bring soaring drug prices back down to earth,” the HHS plan does not commit the administration to taking steps that will have large effects on drug prices in the short term. Some of the steps the Trump administration has previously asked Congress to enact, and that it is seeking feedback about, could, however, reduce patient access and limit drug company pricing power. ...