 "World reaps benefits of American innovation, US picks up the tab: Trump")
The world reaps the benefits of American genius and innovation, while Americans pick up the tab, President Donald Trump said Thursday as he announced new measures to lower the drug prices in the country, which he said are higher in the US and lower in other parts of the world.
In a major policy speech on drug process, Trump said the American middle class is effectively funding virtually all drug research and development for the entire planet.
"So we are paying for it. We are subsidising it. Everybody else is benefiting and they are paying nothing towards research and development," he said at the Health and Human Services headquarters here.
"The world reaps the benefits of American genius and innovation, while American citizens, and especially our great seniors who are hit the hardest pick up the tab," Trump said.
He alleged that for decades, other countries have rigged the system so that American patients are charged much more, and in some cases, much, much more for the exact same drug.
"In other words, Americans pay more so that other countries can pay less, very simple. That's exactly what it is. It's wrong. It's unfair. It's not surprising. I've seen trade deals where it's far more costly to us than even this, and we're changing them, also," Trump said.
Foreign countries, he said, even threaten to disrespect US patents if they are not given cheaper prices on drugs.
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"So they're not going to even look at the patents. They've been very, very disrespectful, previously, to our country, and to all of the things we stand for. And especially, they would disrespect patents when it came to American-made drugs," Trump said.
"But no longer. Here are just a few examples. For one, eye medication that helps prevent blindness. Medicare pays over USD 1 billion a year. If we paid the prices other nations pay, we'd bring the USD 1 billion down to USD 187 million a year," he said.
The US, he said, spends more than USD 1 billion a year on two drugs to treat bone disease. "But we could save more than USD 800 billion, for our seniors, by paying the prices other countries pay. Nothing special, just the prices that other countries pay. That's the way the United States has been disrespected for too long, in too many ways," he said.
One common cancer drug is nearly seven times as expensive for Medicare as it is for other countries. This is a highly used and very effective drug. This is not fair, the president said, adding that this happens because the government pays whatever price the drug companies set, without any negotiation whatsoever.
"Not anymore," he said.
Under the new plan, the Department of Health and Human Services would allow Medicare to determine the price it pays for certain drugs, based on the cheaper prices paid by other nations, Trump said.
"Some people call it 'favoured nations clauses'. We have them in business, we have them in a lot of different contracts that I've seen over the years and been part of. Favoured nations," he said.
Trump said at long last, the drug companies in foreign countries will be held accountable for how they rigged the system against American consumers. "This is a revolutionary change. Nobody's had the courage to do it, or they just didn't want to do it," The President said.
"And this is a change for the people. This is not a change for industry or for companies or for pharma. This is a change for the people. It will be substantially, a reduction in drug prices for our people and our senior citizens. Tremendous, tremendous difference," Trump said.
The new plan will also fix a broken payment system, where doctors are reimbursed more if they prescribe a much more expensive drug, he said.
"Under our new proposed payment system, doctors will be paid a flat rate. And when you think of it, it's like being a contractor or anything else. If it's an expensive drug or a less expensive drug, it's the same. Doesn't take any more.
"And I think this will be good in terms of the pricing of the drug. It would be fantastic for that. But it'll also be much better for patients. And it very well may be better for doctors," he said.
Trump said that with this new policy, the US will finally begin to confront one of the most unfair practices that drives up the cost of medicine in the United States.
"We're taking aim at the global freeloading that forces American consumers to subsidise lower prices in foreign countries through higher prices in our country," Trump said.
"I've seen it for years, and I never understood. Same company, same box, same pill made in the exact same location, and you'll go to some countries, and it would be 20 per cent the cost of what we pay, and in some cases, much less than that.
"And I'd say, 'Why is this?' I never knew that I would be able to stand here before you and have a chance to fix it, and that's what we're doing. We're fixing it. That's called real-life experience, I guess," Trump added.