President Trump is considering issuing a broad executive order to slash the prices of brand-name prescription drugs covered by Medicare Part D and other government programs, Reuters reports:
“The order under discussion would be much broader than the Administration’s previously disclosed proposal to lower prices on physician administered, or Part B, drugs by tying prices to lower costs in other countries.
“The administration is now looking at ways to use this or a similar method to lower prices in Medicare’s much larger Part D, which is for widely used prescription drugs patients take at home, such as for cholesterol and blood pressure, the sources said.”
The order reportedly could come within weeks, and it could cover the military health care plan as well as the Department of Veterans Affairs. But the administration may hold off if it looks like the drug pricing legislation put forth by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) gains bipartisan momentum (see below).
The federal government spent nearly $100 billion on prescription drugs through Medicare Part D in 2016, Reuters says.
