For the past year, President Trump has championed efforts to lower drug prices for Americans to more accessible and affordable medications.
Lowering soaring prescription costs is an issue with wide bipartisan support in Congress. To date, several Congressional committees have held hearings in early 2019 with pharmaceutical executives.
However, real regulatory change must come from the administration, and Department Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar—along with Inspector General Daniel Levinson—recently spoke to the goals the president has outlined to achieve his plan.
“Every day, Americans—particularly our seniors—pay more than they need to for their prescription drugs because of a hidden system of kickbacks to middlemen,” Azar said. “President Trump is proposing to end this era of backdoor deals in the drug industry, bring real transparency to drug markets, and deliver savings directly to patients when they walk into the pharmacy.”
Hoping to bring transparency, accountability, and fairness to the process, Azar has committed HHS to working with Democrats and Republicans to find a way to lower prescription drug costs and help ease the burden for millions of Americans as they seek to maintain their medical regimens for life-saving drugs.
The new plan will offer rebates on prescription drugs, force advertisements to list the costs of medications, and bypass certain middleman additions in the process that pass on expenses to patients.