No, Trump Didn’t Make Historic Progress on Drug Prices
Go ahead and guess which president did.
DONALD TRUMP SPOKE ABOUT prescription drugs for more than three minutes during Tuesday night’s State of the Union address. That’s practically an eternity, given the context and setting. But it’s not so surprising if you’ve been following the news.
For months, Trump and his advisers have been saying they want prescription drugs to be a central focus of the Republican midterm campaign. Specifically, they want to make sure voters know about the deals Trump reached with major drug companies that—according to Trump—mean Americans are now paying “the lowest price[s] anywhere in the world.”
“Other presidents tried to do it, but they never could,” Trump said Tuesday, repeating a line he’s used many times before. “I got it done.”
The boasts serve more than Trump’s vanity. They also serve a political purpose: They are a way for Republicans to show they are addressing “affordability”—and to distract attention from what they’ve been doing to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.
But claims that Trump accomplished what no other president has accomplished on drug prices—and that Americans can now get the lowest prices in the world—do run into one small problem.
They’re mostly bullshit.
If you want to see why, just