WASHINGTON, D.C. — During tonight’s debate at Case Western Reserve University, President Trump claimed that drug prices will be coming down by 80 to 90 percent.
FACT: President Trump hasn’t meaningfully lowered drug prices.
- “Trump keeps claiming he lowered prescription drug prices. But that is largely not true” (Washington Post, 9/18/20)
- “Trump misleads on lowering drug prices” (CNN Fact Check, 8/20/20)
- “President Donald Trump exaggerated his administration’s efforts to lower prescription drug prices.” (Associated Press Fact Check, 9/9/20)
FACT: Drug prices keep rising.
- “Drug prices steadily rise amid pandemic, data shows” (Politico, 7/7/20)
- “Manufacturers hiked prices on 857 drugs by an average of 6.8% in the first six months of this year.” (CNN, 8/20/20)
- “Since 2014, drug prices have increased by 33%, outpacing price increases for any other medical commodity or service.” (GoodRx, 9/17/20)
FACT: Patients are suffering under crushing drug prices and want change.
- “Three in ten adults report not taking their medicines as prescribed at some point in the past year because of the cost.” (Kaiser Family Foundation, 3/1/19)
- “Two-thirds of U.S. adults (66%) report that prescription drug prices have increased either a little or a lot since 2017, the first year of the Trump administration.” (Gallup, 4/28/20)
- 87% of Americans “say it is at least very important that Congress work on lowering prescription drug costs.” (Kaiser Family Foundation, 1/30/20)
FACT: President Trump’s executive orders, like the most-favored nation proposal, haven’t been put into practice.
- “The president also claimed — inaccurately — that the ‘favored nations clause’ order had already lowered drug prices.” (New York Times, 8/24/20)
- “It’s not true that Trump’s measures on favored nations and rebates are bringing prices down now — mainly because they haven’t gone into effect yet.” (CNN, 8/22/20)
- “Most people are unlikely to see drug cost savings from President Trump’s ‘Most Favored Nation’ proposal.” (Kaiser Health News, 8/20/20)
- “As with most executive actions, this only just begins what will be a lengthy bureaucratic process that may or may not ultimately result in the promised policy.” (NPR, 9/13/20)
- “The nearly $7 billion required to send the coupons, he said, would come from savings from Trump’s ‘most favored nations’ drug pricing proposal. That regulation has also not yet been implemented — meaning the Trump administration is effectively pledging to spend $6.6 billion in savings that do not currently exist.” (STAT, 9/24/20)
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