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Trump issued an executive order, which he claimed would cut prescription drug prices for every American.
The AP reported:
President Donald Trump on Monday signed a sweeping executive order setting a 30-day deadline for drugmakers to electively lower the cost of prescription drugs in the U.S. or face new limits down the road over what the government will pay.
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It’s unclear what — if any — impact the Republican president’s executive order will have on millions of Americans who have private health insurance. The federal government has the most power to shape the price it pays for drugs covered by Medicare and Medicaid.
Once again, Trump is trying to regulate private industry with an executive order. As a reminder, executive orders aren’t laws and are limited to the executive branch of the government.
In other words, Trump’s order would, in theory, only apply to Medicare and Medicaid. Trump’s executive order is a con, and Sen. Bernie Sanders explained why.
Sen. Sanders responded to Trump’s executive order by saying:
I agree with President Trump: It is an outrage that the American people pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. It is beyond unacceptable that we pay, in some cases, ten times more for the same exact prescription drugs than people in other major countries. But let’s be clear: The problem is not that the price of prescription drugs is too low in Europe and Canada. The problem is that the extraordinarily greedy pharmaceutical industry made over $100 billion in profits last year by ripping off the American people.
Further, as Trump well knows, his executive order will be thrown out by the courts. If Trump is serious about making real change rather than just issuing a press release, he will support legislation I will soon be introducing to make sure we pay no more for prescription drugs than people in other major countries. If Republicans and Democrats come together on this legislation, we can get it passed in a few weeks.
Sen. Sanders was right. If Trump were serious about lowering prescription drug prices, he would tell Republicans to work with Democrats, and they could have a bill ready and passed in a couple of weeks.
Trump won’t do this because he isn’t serious.
His executive order on prescription drugs is a stunt that is designed to make it look like Trump is doing something, while in reality, he is doing nothing.
Trump knows that the courts are going to shoot this down, so he put the executive order out there to look like he is doing something, while his presidency continues to fail, and he works on taking healthcare away from people in order to pay for tax cuts for the rich.
What do you think about Sen. Sanders’s response to Trump’s executive order? Share your thoughts in the comments below.