Showing just how much health care costs are on his mind as the 2020 election heats up, President Trump incorrectly claimed in a tweet on Sunday that drug prices fell last year:
This Hill’s Zack Budryk notes that “a September analysis by the Associated Press found 96 price hikes for each price reduction in the first seven months of 2018, and drug manufacturers increased prices for 1,026 drugs by a median of 6 percent in January, according to STAT News.”
Trump has made similar claims before, including in a May address from the White House Rose Garden in which he said that “drug prices are coming down, first time in 51 years because of my administration.” At the time, fact-checkers from Kaiser Health News and PolitiFact rated that claim “mostly false.”
They wrote:
“There is data that could conceivably support the argument that the list prices for some prescription drugs dipped in 2018. But that data doesn’t include many high-priced specialty drugs that drive costs up or the fact that some individual drug prices have increased.
“Nationally, spending on drugs has continued to climb, even if that growth has slowed. There is also no evidence to support the argument that Trump himself is responsible for changes in drug pricing.”
