22 posts from Monday, May 12, 2025

Starting today, the United States will no longer subsidize the health care of foreign countries and will no longer tolerate profiteering and price gouging. For the first time in many years, we'll slash the costs of prescription drugs and we will bring fairness to America. Drug prices will come down, we're going to cut out the middlemen and facilitate the direct sale of drugs at the most favored nation price directly to the American citizen. I'm just so grateful to be here today. I never thought that this would happen in my lifetime. This is the most powerful executive order on pharmacy pricing and health care ever in the history of our nation. By getting our allies to pay a bit more, we'll course correct a problem that's gotten out of hand. We're standing up for the American consumer who's been paying far too high prices for far too long. We didn't take an oath to heal patients and then watch their life get ruined financially. We're going to do everything we can at the FDA to support this executive order. It's transformative. Thank you, Mr. President. [END]

Transcribed automatically. Expect errors in names and numbers.

But for the first time in many years, we'll slash the cost of prescription drugs, and we will bring fairness to America. Drug prices will come down by much more, really, if you think, '59. If you think of a drug that is sometimes 10 times more expensive, it's much more than the 59 percent. You know, it depends on the way you want to analyze it, but in one way you could analyze it that way. But between '59 and '80, and I guess even 90 percent. So when I worked so hard in the first term, and if I got prices down -- remember, I was the only one to ever get prices down for a full year, but I'd get them down like 2 percent, and I thought it was like a big deal. Well, we're getting them down 60, 70, 80, 90 percent, but actually more than that if you think about it in a way mathematically. And Farmer has to say we're sorry, but we'll not be able to do this any longer to these countries that have been so tough. They've been very tough. Nasty. It's trade. It's trade. And Farmer is also very powerful, and the Democrats have protected Farmer.

Transcribed automatically. Expect errors in names and numbers.

But starting today, the United States will no longer subsidize the health care of foreign countries, which is what we were doing. We're subsidizing others' health care, countries where they paid a small fraction of what -- for the same drug that what we pay many, many times more for, and will no longer tolerate profiteering and price gouging from Big Pharma. But again, it was really the countries that forced Big Pharma to do things that, frankly, I'm not sure they really felt comfortable doing, but they've gotten away with it. These countries' European Union has been brutal, brutal. And the drug companies actually told me, "Sir, it was just brutal how they forced them." And European Union is suing all our companies -- Apple, Google, Meta -- they're suing all our companies. They end up -- they have judges that are European Union-centric, and they get rewarded 15 billion, 17 billion, 20 billion, and they use that to run their operation. It's not going to happen any longer, that I can tell you.

Transcribed automatically. Expect errors in names and numbers.

So I teach economics at Stanford as well as health policy and one thing that's really really simple in economics Is that when you have a persistent price difference for the same product between two countries? There is something deeply wrong and what President Trump has done is a historic measure that should have been done a long time ago What we're going to do is is make sure that those prices Become much closer to equal like that like a competitive market you'd expect right now What's happening is the American people are subsidizing at in large large fraction Thought the research and development efforts for drug companies around the world by the higher prices that we pay with this new order Europe will share the burden of that and in fact if you may think of it as like it as somehow It's like it's it's going after drug companies Actually, it's helping drug companies because what we're also going to do with this order what President Trump has done with this order is He's said to European governments Look if you are taking advantage of the drug companies by forcing them to charge the very very low prices We're going to defend American drug companies in Europe at the same time We're standing up for the American consumer who's been paying far too high prices for far too long I can go back decades to point to Congressional report after a government report after government report of tremendously high drug prices Much higher than the rest of the world and nothing has been done about it until this moment And I'm really really proud President Trump so that you've done this I'm really proud to be included in this and looking forward to the work ahead

Transcribed automatically. Expect errors in names and numbers.

- Thank you, Mr. President. Um, this is, uh, this is an extraordinary day. This is an issue that, you know, I grew up in the Democratic Party, and every major Democratic leader for 20 years been making this promise to the American people. This was the fulcrum of Bernie Sanders' runs for presidency, that he was gonna eliminate this discrepancy between Europe and the United States. But as it turns out, none of them were doing it, it's one of these promises that politicians make to their constituents, knowing that they'll never have to do it. And the reason they'll never have to do it is 'cause they know that Congress is controlled in so many ways by the pharmaceutical industry. There's at least one pharmaceutical lobbyist for every congressman, every senator in Capitol Hill, and every member of the Supreme Court. Some estimates, three. Pharmaceutical companies, the industry itself spends three times what's the next largest lobbyist spends on lobbying. So this was an issue that people talked about, nobody wanted to do anything because it was radioactive. They knew you couldn't get it by Congress. We now have a president who is a man of his word, who has the courage. President Trump was taking money from the pharmaceutical industry, too. I think they gave you a hundred million dollars. But he can't be bought, unlike most of the politicians in this country. And he is standing here for the American people. I don't know, there's writers like Lord Elizabeth Warren, or Robert Reich, who are saying that President Trump is on this side of the olec arcs. There has never been a president more willing to stand up to the olec arcs than President Donald Trump. And I'm very, very proud of you, Mr. President, for your courage, or I'll say, because I don't want to be crude, your intestinal fortitude, your stiff spine, and your willingness to stand up for the American people. We have 4.2% of the world's population. We, our country represents 75% of the revenues for pharmaceutical companies. We spend, in our country, $1,126 per capita on drugs. In Britain, they spend about 240. They spend 1/5 of what we do. And this is true across Europe. And the drug companies, Europeans, if you ask them, it may no sense what they are saying. America has to pay for this innovation, or it's not gonna happen. President Trump is saying to our European partners, is you gotta raise the amount that you're paying for those drugs, and pay for your share of the innovation. Oh, that the United States is no longer subsidizing that. If the Europeans raise their, the price of their drugs, by just 20%, that is $10 trillion. That can be spent on innovation. And the health of all people all across the globe is gonna increase, because we're gonna have better products. So I am, I'm just so grateful to be here today. I never thought that this would happen in my lifetime. I have a couple of kids who are Democrats, are big Bernie Sanders fans. And when I told them that this was gonna happen, they had tears in their eyes. 'Cause they thought this is never gonna happen in our lifetime, and we finally have a president who's willing to stand up for the American people. Thank you, and Dr. Rupp.

Transcribed automatically. Expect errors in names and numbers.