Trump's proposal would likely only impact certain drugs covered by Medicare and given in an office — think infusions that treat cancer, and other injectables. ... More common prescription drugs filled at a pharmacy would probably not be covered by the new order.
Naturally, Big Pharma is whining about it. No surprise there -- back during the Biden administration, they sued, claiming that it's literally unconstitutional for the US government to offer any price other than what the pharma companies might happen to demand for drugs purchased with taxpayer money.
One of the big dodges they use is pretending that they're operating under conditions of monopsony, i.e. there only being one buyer for their products, giving that buyer undue control. That's true neither in the United States (yes, the US government is a big customer, but even so its payments account for less than half of domestic prescription drug spending) or in general (there are lots of other customers to sell drugs to worldwide).
All of which is coming around to the claim I've heard from a couple of corners, that Trump is planning to impose "price controls" on pharmaceuticals. If the descriptions of the forthcoming order are accurate, nope -- he's just planning to say that one government program will pay X, and no more, for drug Y. The drug sellers will remain free to demand more than X from non-government customers, and remain free to tell the government "no sale, then."
Of course, you know me -- my strong preference is to get government out of healthcare entirely. But if government is in the business of paying for drugs, I see no reason why it shouldn't drive the hardest bargain it can.
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