Trump Issues Executive Orders To Slash Insulin, EpiPen Prices; End ‘Global Freeloading’
By Amanda Prestigiacomo Jul 27, 2020 DailyWire.com
President Donald Trump signed four executive orders on Friday designed to significantly lower prescription drug prices for Americans, including insulin and epinephrine.
The directives to the secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) will “[e]nd a shadowy system of kickbacks by middlemen that lurks behind the high out-of-pocket costs many Americans face at the pharmacy counter,” the department announced Friday, and said they will provide Americans more options on purchasing the drugs.
During the signing ceremony on Friday, the president said that the high price of insulin and EpiPens have cut off low-income people in “desperate” need of the treatments.
“The four orders I’m signing today will be on the prescription drug market in terms of pricing and everything else to make these medications affordable and accessible for all Americans,” said Trump, surrounded by health care professionals. “The first order will require federal community health centers to pass the giant discounts they received from drug companies on insulin and EpiPens directly to their patients. You know insulin became so expensive people weren’t able to use it. They desperately needed it.”
“We have it to a level that you’re not going to believe,” he continued. “EpiPens — likewise you have been hearing horrible stories about EpiPens over the last six or seven years, horrible, horrible, horrible increases for where they went to almost nothing to massive amounts of money. We’re changing that right now.”
More:
https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-issues-executive-orders-to-slash-insulin-epipen-prices-end-global-freeloading
Biden Administration Rescinds Trump Administration Insulin Pricing Rule
Drug Prices by Thomas Sullivan Last updated Oct 24, 2021
One of the final healthcare actions made by the Trump Administration has been rescinded by the Biden Administration. On December 23, 2020, the Trump Administration finalized a rule that directed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to take action to require that federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) make insulin and injectable epinephrine available to certain patients at 340B prices. The Biden Administration delayed the rule twice before it became effective on July 20, 2021, and the first opportunity for HHS to impose the requirements of the rule would have been through grants awarded in fiscal year 2022. So, while the rule has been in effect since July, it has yet to be implemented.
In the Federal Register notice rescinding the rule, HHS noted that the rule would have resulted in “excessive administrative costs and burdens” on health centers. Specifically, the agency took issue with the requirement that health centers would need to create and maintain new practices to determine patients’ eligibility to receive drugs at or below the discounted price paid by the health center, plus a minimal fee. HHS also noted its belief that the implementation of the Rule would have resulted in “reduced resources available to support critical services to health center patients – including those who use insulin and injectable epinephrine.
HHS further acknowledged concerns expressed “by the vast majority of commenters” that the “low income” definition of 350% of the federal poverty level would have “created significant administrative challenges for health centers” and that those challenges would have resulted in a diversion of resources from patient care in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
More:
https://www.policymed.com/2021/10/biden-administration-rescinds-trump-administration-insulin-pricing-rule.html
Potato let 'em jack up the price, then he negotiates down but still higher prices
Gas is still twice as high as it was before the Tyranny of the Potato