TrumpRx Opens for Business

From The New York Times, I'm Rachel. Abrams and [music] this is The Daily. >> [music]. >> Ladies and gentlemen, the president of. the United [music] States. >> [applause]. >> Last week, President Trump unveiled. Trump Rx. [music] Dozens of the most. commonly used prescription drugs will be. available at dramatic discounts for all. consumers throughout.

a new [music] website is called. trumprx.gov. The administration's answer to the high. cost [music] of prescription drugs. This. launch represents the largest reduction. in prescription drug prices in history. by. many, many times and it's not even. close. You're going to see numbers that. you're not going to believe. The president hailed the website as a. quote transformative [music] healthcare. initiative. Congratulations to you on. all that money you're saving, okay? [music]. Thank you. Thank you very much,

everybody. Appreciate it. Today, >> [music]. >> my colleague Margo Sanger-Katz explains. how the site works and whether [music]. it will actually save Americans money. >> [music]. >> It's Wednesday, [music] February 11th. Margo, welcome back to the show.

It's nice to be back. I feel like I have. been hearing about this Trump Rx thing. for probably months now without having a. good sense of what this thing actually. was. Like I didn't know if it was an. online pharmacy, a Trump-branded online. pharmacy perhaps. And last week, the. website was actually unveiled. So, Margo, start off by telling us what is. Trump Rx? So, I think in some ways it's easier to. say what it's not. It's not a place that. you can buy prescription drugs. This is. not a pharmacy. It is not a store that's.

run by the federal government. Instead, it's a place that you can go if you're. looking to buy certain prescription. drugs. It will help you figure out how. to get them at a discounted price. So, this is the federal government's effort. to help you find drugs at a good price, but not to sell you drugs directly. Which is so interesting because I'm. pretty sure that pretty much every. presidential candidate in my lifetime. has talked at some point and in some. form about bringing down drug prices.

And this website, TrumpRx, seems like an. unusual step toward addressing a very. intractable problem. So, how did the. president arrive as this as the solution. right now? So, I think there's two things going on. One is that Trump is obviously under a. lot of pressure right now to do. something about affordability, and. particularly about the affordability of. healthcare. Democrats have just been. hammering the Trump administration on. this, and a lot of Americans are. concerned about high and rising costs. for healthcare. Mhm. The other thing is.

that drug prices have sort of been an. obsession of Trump's. Even from the time. he started running for president in. 2015, this was something that he would. talk about on the campaign trail a lot. He almost sounded a little bit like. Bernie Sanders on this issue. He was. always complaining that Americans pay. the highest prices for drugs in the. world, which is true. On average, we pay. about three times as much as what other. rich countries pay for prescription. drugs. And in his first term, he tried. to take some actions to do something. about it, but they didn't really work. out. If you just remind us, Margo, why.

do Americans pay more than other. countries for drugs? So, the answer is a little bit. complicated, but I think the simplest. way to answer it is that most other. countries, the government of that. country negotiates directly with. pharmaceutical companies, and they say, "If you want to sell your drug to all of. the patients in my country, you need to. give us a good. We don't have a system like that in the. United States. The government in general. is not involved in setting the price for. drugs. Instead, we have lots of. different insurance companies that are.

making separate deals for different. groups of customers. The other. difference is that in a lot of other. countries, if a drug maker has a new. drug that's really great, but really. expensive, those countries are willing. to say, "If you don't bring the price. down enough, we are willing to walk away. from the negotiating table." Whereas in. the United States, I think we have a. culture and a politics and an. expectation that if a new drug works, that we want to be able to offer it to.

patients here. And so that means that. the government, to the degree it's. involved, and all of those individual. insurance companies, just have a little. bit less leverage to pull the price. down. Because they can't walk away from. the table, the drug companies have a lot. more power here to set whatever price. they want for those drugs. Which, if you. think about it, means that we, as the. United States, are in some ways. underwriting the cost of drugs for other. countries, right? Because our country is. willing to pay kind of whatever. That. probably makes it easier for drug. companies to go to France or the United.

Kingdom or wherever else and say, "Sure, fine. We'll take whatever you're. demanding we take for this drug." I. think that's absolutely true. The United. States market is incredibly important to. the pharmaceutical industry. We pay. these super high prices. Also, we're. just a really big country. And so a lot. of the business model is sort of. predicated on the idea that the drug. company is going to make almost all of. its money on a new drug in the United. States market. And then anything that. they get from these other countries is. kind of gravy. Right. So, okay. So, you. said Trump couldn't bring down the drug. prices in his first term. Now he's.

obviously back in office. What has. changed? So, one thing that hasn't. changed is he's continued to think that. this is a really important issue. But. here are a few things that are. different. >> [music]. >> One is that the market for drugs has. changed a little bit. The explosion of. these GLP-1 drugs that treat obesity has. led to many more consumers buying drugs. directly and going around their health. insurance. So, that's kind of a new. consumer market for drugs that didn't. exist before. Mhm. And the other thing.

is the political pressures around health. care affordability that Trump is facing, that Americans feel like health care is. too expensive. >> Mhm. For example, he had this big. campaign promise that he was going to be. the father of IVF and he was going to. help [music] a lot of couples that were. having trouble with fertility make IVF. more affordable. Mhm. And then on top of. that, the Congress, [music] as part of. its big tax bill, made major cuts to. state Medicaid programs that provide. insurance to lots of low-income people.

And at the end of last year, Congress. allowed subsidies to expire that helped. millions of Americans buy Obamacare. health insurance plans. And so, that's. increasing the premiums for people who. buy that kind of insurance and. increasing the number of people who. don't have coverage. Mhm. I think all of. this is creating pressure for him to try. to start to find solutions around. [music] rising health care costs. And here's the thing about prescription. drugs. They are not the largest cause of.

health care spending. Most of our health. care spending goes to pay for. hospitalization and doctors visits. But, I think that drug costs are particularly. salient for a lot of people because it's. the one health care cost that people. kind of deal with every month. And so, Trump decides that he wants to focus on. the pharmaceutical companies and their. role in the system. And he begins a. pressure campaign on these companies. directly. What does that mean? Like, what does he actually start doing? So,

he has his trade officials do an. investigation and determine that they. can impose major tariffs on. pharmaceutical products. And then he. goes to the CEOs of individual. pharmaceutical companies. And he. basically said to them like, "Look, I. could put a big tariff on you. I can. make it really hard for you to continue. to do business in this country. I really. need you to make me a deal." So, he. starts negotiating with all these drug. companies one at a time, and he begins. hauling them out in public in front of.

the cameras to announce deals. I think. this is one of the biggest medical. announcements that. >> [snorts]. >> this office has ever made because we're. talking about So, he starts with a drug. company Pfizer. Pfizer has agreed to. provide some of their most popular. current medications to all consumers at. heavily discounted prices of And he has. this press conference with the CEO of. that company. Mr. President, what. >> [laughter]. >> What an honor that we here And the press. conference, like it has a little bit of. like a hostage video kind of feel to it.

>> He has a beautiful office, but the Oval is the greatest, [laughter]. right? What do you think? I think by. far. You see the CEO of Pfizer get up in. front of the camera and talk about how. delighted he is to offer these big. discounts on his products. Now we have. clarity about what is the framework. for the US pricing. Which, of course, they never would have wanted to do. before. And going forward, this is how. things will be priced in the US and. abroad. And it's at that press. conference that Trump mentioned the idea.

of this Trump RX website. Drugs will be. available for direct purchase online at. a website operated by the federal. government where all of these deals are. going to be pulled together and made. public for the American people to find. >> [music]. >> And then, over the next weeks and. months, one by one, they have executives from numerous drug. companies Mr. President, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. President. >> It's a true honor to be here. come out. for these press conferences. We're going. to be significantly lowering the cost of. the medicines they rely on. Announce. these deals and say that they're going. to be offering much better pricing to. American consumers. >> And that's a 70% price reduction, and. that also will be available on Trump Rx. We're also very. >> And at each one of these press. conferences. >> Now you're going to see numbers that. nobody would believe possible. Think of. this. >> Trump is using this incredibly.

hyperbolic language to describe the. kinds of deals that are being offered. >> 500, 600, 700, 800%. Saying, you know, these are not. discounts of 50 or 80%, but they are. 700, 800, 1,000% discounts. >> You're talking about 1,400, 1,500, 1,600% reductions in some cases. Discounts that are mathematically not. possible. And I think based on that, I. won't even take questions today because. there's no way I can take questions that. are anywhere comparable to what you just. witnessed. You just witnessed. the drug prices.

that will go down at levels never. thought. >> [music]. >> even possible, Marty. Thank So, by the. time this website rolled out last week, there's been this drumbeat of press. conference after press conference, and I. think it's led to this expectation that. it's going to be this huge deal, and. there are going to be all of these. wonderful discounts on drugs. >> [music]. >> But, if you look at the details of these. actual deals. the reality is very different [music]. than that.

>> [music]. >> We'll be right back. So, Margo, you said before the break. that the way that Trump had been talking. about this website had set up huge. expectations that weren't necessarily. met when you actually looked at the. deals represented on this site. So, tell. us a little bit more about what you. found when you looked into this more. So, when you look at this website, it is.

absolutely not revolutionizing the price. of most drugs that most Americans take. First of all, there are only 43 drugs on. this website. There are thousands and. thousands of prescription drugs. So, this is this tiny, tiny little fraction. of the drugs that people need. Right, that is not a lot of the drug market. Yeah, and for people who have insurance, which is 85% of all Americans, this. website is really not offering them a. better price than what they already. have. But, there are two categories of. drugs where the deals are actually.

pretty good. Those are drugs for. infertility and for obesity. I think we. should take a look at this website. together and just kind of like walk. through what you might actually see. Yeah, let's do it. >> [music]. >> So, I'm going to go to trumprx.gov, right? That's the website? >> [music]. >> I'm going there, too. All right, so the first thing that I see. is in big letters it says, "Find the. world's lowest prices on prescription. drugs." And there's like a little pill. instead of a period after the word. drugs. There's a vial kind of hovering.

over the word prices. And let's see, you. can scroll down, we see comparisons. between the USA and Canada. Okay, so. keep going though, cuz this is my. favorite part. There's a spinning globe. with the United States in gold. It's. very catching. And it says, "Thanks to President Trump, the days of. Big Pharma price gouging are over. Leveraging the full weight and power of. the United States of America, the. president has ensured every American. gets the lowest prices on prescription. medications in the developed world.".

You know, I think it's a very beautiful. website. The design is very clean. It's. enjoyable. It's easy to understand. But, it is continuing to make these very. hyperbolic promises that it really just. doesn't deliver on. >> [music]. >> Okay, so let's look at the actual drugs. I'm going to scroll down until I find a. drug. Okay, so the first drug listed. here is Wegovy, a weight loss. medication, right? Margo, tell me what.

we are looking at. So, Wegovy, this is. one of these GLP-1 drugs. This is a drug. that is used to treat obesity. And it. says Wegovy pen 74 to 85% off. And then. there's this little chart that shows. you, depending on what dose of the drug. you're going to buy, what is the price. So, the list price for this drug is more. than a thousand dollars a month. On this. website, it says original price. $1,349.02.

That is what you would have to pay at. the pharmacy, 1350 a month. And with the. Trump RX pricing, what they are showing. you is for the highest dose of the drug, the price is only $349. So, this is some really significant. savings for people who take this drug, don't have insurance coverage for it, and are paying with their own money out. of pocket. I want to look at some of the. other drugs on this website because I. noticed that a lot of the drugs listed. of these 43 are fertility drugs, which.

are drugs that people often have to pay. for out of pocket. And I'd actually. asked a girlfriend of mine who recently. went through IVF to send me the list of. drugs she had to purchase out of pocket. from an online pharmacy recently because. I wanted to compare the prices that she. paid to the prices being advertised on. Trump RX. My friend paid about $300 for. it, and if we just type it into Trump. RX, we can see that it starts at the. same dosage that she had for $168.

So, that's a significant discount. Yeah, I think your friend's price is kind of. illustrative, right? The Trump RX. website is saying that the original. price was $966. Your friend was paying around $300. So, this is a big savings. $168 is less than. $300. I think for these fertility drugs, it's another example where the Trump. administration did negotiate better. discounts than were available before. And I do think that the reduced cost of. some of these infertility drugs is going.

to make these treatments more affordable. for women who need them, but it is not. quite as big as what the website is. promising. Mhm. So, if you think about. obesity drugs and infertility drugs, these two examples are the places where. Trump Rx is actually doing the most. work. Okay, weight loss drugs, IVF. drugs, got it. But, what about literally everything else? So, the literally everything else is a. little bit more disappointing. And. here's why.

>> [music]. >> These other drugs are the kinds of drugs. that treat more common conditions like. asthma, high cholesterol, diabetes. These are the kinds of drugs that almost. everyone's insurance covers [music]. really well. And so, if you have. insurance, then you're not paying the. full price. You're paying a copayment, which in many cases could be like $25 a. month. That's pretty much going to beat. the Trump Rx price for all of these. drugs. And 85% [music] of Americans have.

insurance coverage that covers their. drugs. So, that really is most people. Mhm. >> [music]. >> Then, even if you're thinking about the. people who don't have insurance and who. have to pay for their drugs directly. with cash, my colleague Rebecca Robbins. and I went through this list of drugs. And of the 43 drugs, we found that about. half of them already have generics that. are on the market that are cheaper than. the prices that are being offered on. Trump Rx. So, even for those people who don't have.

insurance, they would not be better off. buying the drugs through this system. They would be better off going to their. pharmacy [music] and just paying for a. generic. Is it going to be clear to people that. this website might not give them the. best deal for the drug that they're. looking for? The website has some disclaimers on it. When you go on each individual page, you. will see that there is a disclaimer, for. example, that you should check and see. if you have insurance, it might be.

cheaper with a co-payment. So, this is. not a one-stop shop for people, and even. the people who have designed this Trump. Rx website acknowledge that and are. telling consumers that. At the same time though, let's just be. honest about the amount of time and. resources people have to investigate. their own healthcare. Like, if you are. working full-time, if you are a. caregiver, if you are working multiple. jobs, the amount of time that you're. likely to invest in whether you can get. the cheapest drug by like looking this. up, looking at your insurance, etc., etc., is probably kind of limited. So,

if you have the general impression from. the press conferences we talked about or. others, that this is going to be the. cheapest version of the way that you get. your drugs, you might just end up using. Trump Rx, right? Even if it's not. actually the best deal. You might, but I think that most. Americans actually are used to using. their insurance for drugs. They're not. used to paying directly with cash and. shopping around for the best price in. the way that this website is encouraging. them to do. But, some people that we. talked to said that they're worried. people are going to think that Trump Rx.

is offering them the best deal, and they. are not going to look into these other. options, and they're going to end up. overpaying for drugs. So, the bottom. line here, it seems from everything. you've said, is that if you have trouble. paying for your prescription drugs in. the United States, this website is. probably not going to fix that problem. Yeah, this website just isn't really. doing very much for most Americans who. struggle with their prescription drug. prices. For example, some of the most. expensive drugs on the market right now, and the ones that Americans and. insurance companies struggle to pay for,

are drugs for cancer. There are not any. drugs for cancer on this website. >> Mhm. And it's worth noting that this is. just the beginning. More drugs are. expected to be added to this website. over time, but for right now, it's very. clear that this is not the solution to. the problem of high prescription drug. costs in America. So, Margo, if this website is really. only going to help people who either. want to lose weight or have more. children, it does make me wonder about the. decision to focus on those two groups to. begin with, especially because candidate.

Trump made growing the American family. such a big part of his campaign. Do you think that this Trump RX program. is motivated more by ideology and. perhaps campaign promises than by a. desire to truly improve affordability? I don't really think it is. I think it's. more of a happy accident that these are. drugs that Trump would love to take. credit for lowering the price of because. they connect to his campaign promises in. the case of infertility and they're.

really popular in the case of weight. loss drugs, but they're also drugs where. the drug company already had a pretty. big incentive to offer a discount, that. there is this big market of people who. are already paying for it with their own. money, and the publicity of the Trump RX. launch might help bring them more. customers that will compensate for the. lower prices. But, the whole exercise, I. think, very much fits into the kind of. salesmanship that we expect from Trump. He does not really have a solution to.

the broader question of healthcare. affordability. He does not have a. comprehensive plan to lower healthcare. costs at the hospital or at doctors or. any of the other places where most. Americans are faced with the biggest. bills. And even more than that, his. administration has taken actions that. are raising the cost of healthcare for a. lot of Americans that could cause. millions of Americans to lose their. health insurance. So, this is not just a small solution, but it is a small solution to a problem.

that is getting worse on Trump's watch. >> [music]. >> Margo Singer-Cats, thank you again for. being with us today. It's nice to be. here. >> [music]. [music]. >> We'll be right back. Here's what else you need to know today. >> [music]. >> During a congressional hearing on. Tuesday, Todd Lyons, the acting ICE.

director, refused to say whether anyone. had been fired after an ICE agent shot. and killed Renee Good in Minnesota last. month. Can you tell us if at least, God, I hope at least one person has been. fired for their conduct since these. operations have begun? Are you Are you. telling us you can't even say one. person's been fired? [music]. Sir, I'm not going to talk about. personnel actions, but we will get back. to you. The Trump administration had labeled. Good a domestic terrorist in the. immediate aftermath of her [music]. death. When pressed, Lyons refused to apologize.

for the label and declined to answer. whether it was true. And a shooter killed nine people [music]. and injured 25 others in a remote town. in northeastern British Columbia, >> [music]. >> the third deadliest shooting in Canada's. history. Seven people were found dead in Tumbler. Ridge Secondary School, >> [music]. >> including a person believed to be the. shooter, who died from what appeared to. be a self-inflicted injury. Two other people were found dead in a. local residence, while another person. died while [music] being transported to.

a hospital. A motive for the attack was not. immediately clear. Authorities [music]. have released details about the shooter. Today's episode [music] was produced by. Alex Stern, Rob Zipko, Anna Foley, and. Diana Wynn. It was edited by Lexi Dio. and M.J. Davis Lynn. Contains music by. Marion Lozano and Diane Wong and was. engineered by Chris Wood. >> [music].

>> That's it for the daily. [music] I'm. Rachel Abrams. See you tomorrow.