President Donald Trump announced plans to make prescription drug prices lower at the White House on Friday.
“We will have tougher negotiation, more competition, and much lower prices at the pharmacy counter and it will start to take effect very soon,” Trump said.
The president made his remarks in the Rose Garden at the White House, detailing a list of over 50 actions detailed by the Health and Human Services to help reduces costs.
“The drug lobby is making an absolute fortune at the expense of American consumers,” Trump said.
He disparaged the culture of Washington, DC, that allowed “middle-men” and political lobbyists to rake in hundreds of millions of dollars to keep costs high by using government.
“Health insurance companies and other providers spent another $200 million to protect the status quo and to keep prices artificially high,” Trump said. “And they’ve been very successful doing it for many, many years.”
Trump promised to reduce the regulatory burden on prescription drugs, speed up approval processes for cheaper generic drugs, giving Medicare Part D to negotiate drug prices, and patent reform. He also detailed plans to speed up the approval of over-the-counter drugs, foregoing a prescription.
“The American people deserve a healthcare system that takes care of them,” he said. “Not one that taxes and takes advantage of our patients and our consumers and our citizens.”