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President Trump holds a pen Thursday after signing a bipartite law to deal with the opioid crisis. (Evan Vucci / AP)
The government released a report Thursday morning outlining the US government's high spending on prescription drugs, just hours before President Trump first spoke to the Ministry of Health and Social Services and less than two weeks of mid-term elections. in which health care plays a decisive role.
"Medicare could achieve substantial savings if prices in the US were similar to other major market economies," the report concludes.
The price of drugs and the theme of the "free charge" of foreign governments who pay much less for drugs, even though they have been developed in the United States, should play a central role in Trump's speech.
This is the next step in his government's quest to look tough on the pharmaceutical industry. The Medicare program, which covers 55 million elderly and disabled Americans, is responsible for 29% of the country's drug expenditures.
In a series of tweets on Thursday morning, HHS Secretary Alex Azar spoke of Trump's earlier criticisms of other governments paying much less for drugs than the US government. The United States is the largest donor of research and development in the pharmaceutical sector, but lacks the bargaining power to drive down prices – unlike countries with public health care programs.
The report "gives a troubling glimpse of how the current international drug pricing system has put America in last place," Azar tweeted.
The president is focusing on health care in the run-up to the mid-term elections in which Democrats have reprimanded Republicans for their unsuccessful attempt to revoke and replace the Affordable Care Act, a law criticized by Trump. His government has been striving to eliminate several ACA requirements, and Democrats believe that Republicans do not wish to protect people with pre-existing health conditions and ensure that they receive health care at affordable costs.
Asset falsely tweeted that "all Republicans" support the protection of people with pre-existing conditions. Republicans did not support the passing of the 2010 ACA, which promulgated them, and the majority of them voted in favor of the repeal and replacement of the ACA of 2010, which promulgated them, and the majority of them voted in favor of the repeal and replacement of the ACA. Obamacare last year.
[Trump false claim ignores long GOP effort to repeal Obamacare]
Trump also signed Wednesday a White House bill aimed at fighting the opioid crisis, although some experts believe that it is only a first step.
The 19-page HHS report specifically examines drugs purchased and delivered by the physicians themselves, as part of the Medicare Part B program. In the past, Azar has focused on this element of the program as Part B expenditures have increased much more rapidly than Medicare drugs delivered through pharmacies.
While spending on drugs in Part B has doubled since 2006, Part D drug expenditures have increased much more slowly. The report notes that Part B is not subject to restrictions on covered drugs, which means that there is little incentive to cut costs.
Protecting people with pre-existing conditions and lowering the price of prescription drugs is high on the list of pre-election concerns. In a March poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, eight out of ten respondents said the cost of drugs was unreasonable and 92% said legislation to reduce the cost of prescription drugs should be a top priority .
Trump launched his drug costs initiative last May at the White House Rose Garden, where he announced a 44-page project containing significant ideas that could threaten drug supply chain industries.
In May, the president also said that pharmaceutical companies would announce "massive" reductions in voluntary prices. When Pfizer and Novartis announced during the summer that they were withdrawing some planned price increases, Trump presented this project as proof that its pressure tactics were working well.
The administration has moved twice this month on the provisions to reduce the prices of drugs. Trump has signed a bill banning "restrictive covenants" prohibiting pharmacists from telling patients when they could save money by paying cash or trying a cheaper alternative medicine. Last week, Azar proposed a rule requiring companies to list in television ads the price of a 30-day offer or treatment for the drug they were trying to sell.
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