The White House provided a text of the executive order on Sunday, but it turned out that the document was signed on July 24. Donald Trump announced over the weekend that he has signed a new executive order that focuses on lowering drug prices in America by linking to those of other countries.
The aforesaid executive order demands Medicare to test paying the same price for specific steeply-priced prescription drugs that other developed countries do, a "most-favored-nation price." Other countries pay relatively less for medications, primarily because their government usually determines the cost, which is exactly opposite to Republicans' allegiance to the free market system.
Trump has strongly criticized the socialist health care systems of other countries and slammed his Democratic rivals for their attempts to push for a similar set up in America. Despite these oppositions, he lauded linking US prices to peer nations' lower costs.
Taking to his official Twitter account on Sunday, Trump announced that he has signed a new executive order to lower drug prices. He deemed it as his Most Favored Nation order and added that it will ensure that America gets the same low price Big Pharma gives to other nations.
The POTUS said the new order marks the end of global free-riding at America's expense, and the prices are coming down fast. Aside from that, he said the order ends all rebates to middlemen and helps further reducing prices.
Facing strong opposition from the pharmaceutical industry, the measure has been sort of a mystery since Trump signed the order on July 24. At the time, he announced that he was holding a meeting with drug company executives to present their ideas for reducing costs and would withhold implementation of the action for a month, CNN reported.
That meeting never happened, and the White House has remained tight-lipped since the president's deadline to implement the order passed in Aug. The recently issued order expands the capacity of the policy to include certain Part D drugs available at pharmacies, aside from some Part B medications and executed at doctor's offices and hospitals.
White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere said Sunday that the administration gave drugmakers a month to offer a counter-proposal. These negotiations did not lead to an acceptable alternative, so Trump decided to move forward, Deere said.
Touted as the main pharmaceutical industry group, PhRMA slammed the move, calling it irresponsible and unworkable. The group said the move will allow foreign governments to intervene in how America provides access to cures and treatments for people dealing with deadly diseases and seniors.