Trump announces $6.6 billion in prescription drug discounts — but HHS is still figuring out how to pay for them
President Trump has launched a last-minute prescription drug payment plan with no clear way to pay for it.
Trump announced Thursday that his administration would be mailing $200 prescription drug coupons to seniors using Medicare, totaling $6.6 billion. But as of Friday morning, the Department of Health and Human Services was still figuring out where that money would come from.
In what Stat News called a "political ploy" just six weeks before Election Day, Trump issued executive orders promising to send coupons to 33 million Medicare beneficiaries "to curry favor with seniors who view drug prices as a priority." The $6.6 billion to pay for it would apparently come from Trump's proposed "most favored nations" drug pricing proposal, which would mandate the Medicare program would only pay the lowest international price for prescription drugs. But while the rule change could save the Medicare system money, it isn't even in place yet; Trump's Thursday executive order would only direct HHS to explore the favored nations proposal.
What's even more absurd is the White House actually *has* said where the money will come from: Trump's "most favored nations" rule capping U.S. drug prices based on prices in other countries. That rule ... is not in force yet. So, $6.6 in taxpayer money that doesn't yet exist
— Lev Facher (@levfacher) September 25, 2020
As The New York Times' Maggie Haberman also noted, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has pushed for the coupon deal despite being a notorious "budget hawk" who always wants to know where government spending is coming from.
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