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White House Comes Out Against Pelosi’s Drug-Pricing Bill
Trump campaigned on forcing pharmaceutical companies to lower drug prices. It was literally the only coherent thing to come out of his mouth. So it shouldn't be a surprise that he's bailed on it as Big Pharma pours money into the coffers of the White House and Republican Congressmen and women.
The White House is distancing itself from Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plan to lower drug prices.... White House has been in talks with Pelosi’s office for months on drug prices, a rare shared priority, but the effort always faced tough odds given the partisan divide....
Pelosi's legislation.... would authorize the government to directly negotiate the cost of certain drugs. But he distanced the administration from the bill...
Republicans want to pass a bill on their terms to get positive headlines, but are proposing alternative measures that don't accomplish much of anything.
Pelosi’s bill is the only measure that allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices, something that Trump called for in his 2016 campaign before backing away from it once in office. That has led some Democrats to say Trump is breaking his promise if he does not support Pelosi’s bill.
Pelosi’s bill would allow the secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower prices for up to 250 drugs per year, with the lower prices also applied to private insurers.
The Grassley-Wyden bill does not include negotiation, and it is centered on lowering drug prices in Medicare, in contrast to Pelosi’s bill, which would also lower prices for people with private insurance.
“Trump used to insist that we needed to ‘negotiate like crazy’ to lower prescription drug prices, and House Democrats’ legislation is the only bill that includes negotiation," Pelosi spokesperson Henry Connelly said in a statement. "Instead of caving to Big Pharma, the Trump Administration should work with us to pass the Lower Drug Costs Now Act through the Republican-controlled Senate.”
Sources:
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/31/white-house-aide-pelosi-drug-plan-063091