President Trump has been constantly working to improve the health care options available to Americans. His faith in free market competition and cost transparency is paying off. President Trump is not a quitter. He pursues relentlessly what he believes are the right things to do for the benefit of the American people. Some changes have been accomplished quickly while the politically difficult improvements just take longer. No goals have been abandoned.
Prescription drug prices increased by an average of 3.6% per year from 2008 to 2016. Since President Trump’s election, drug prices have declined an average of almost 1% per year. Now, it will get even better. Yesterday, July 27, 2020, The White House website published the following information:
“The President signed four sweeping executive orders on Friday, which together will significantly lower the cost of prescription drugs while increasing access to life-saving medications such as insulin:
- The first order directs federally qualified health centers to pass along massive discounts on insulin and epinephrine from drug companies to low-income Americans.
- The second order will allow the safe, legal importation of prescription drugs from Canada and other countries where the price for identical drugs is lower.
- The third order will prohibit secret deals between drug manufacturers and pharmacy “benefit manager” middlemen, ensuring patients directly benefit from available discounts at the pharmacy counter.
- The fourth order ensures the United States pays the lowest price available among economically advanced countries for Medicare Part B drugs. The United States often pays 80 percent more for these drugs than other developed nations.
“The four orders that I’m signing today will completely restructure the prescription drug market, in terms of pricing and everything else, to make these medications affordable and accessible for all Americans,” President Trump said.
In 2018, prescription drugs saw their largest annual price decrease in more than half a century. Average basic premiums for Medicare Part D prescription drug plans have fallen by 13.5 percent since 2017, saving beneficiaries $1.9 billion in premium costs. Friday’s four executive orders build on this crucial progress.”
A few of President Trump’s other accomplishments in the field of health care for Americans include:
- Right-To-Try legislation was signed allowing terminally ill patients to try experimental treatment that wasn’t allowed before.
- The individual mandate penalty in Obamacare has been eliminated.
- Costly Obamacare taxes were repealed including the “Cadillac Tax” and the Medical Device Tax.
- Association Health Plans have been expanded.
- Veterans health care has been dramatically improved with the Veterans Choice Program and several other initiatives.
- Operation Warp Speed is successfully accelerating the development of vaccines to combat the COVID 19 virus.
Many other programs have been implemented and many, many more improvements are still being pursued. President Trump’s priorities of America First and faith in free markets guide his efforts. America needs four more years of his leadership and a future guided by his principles.
We must all vote for the re-election of President Trump!