In the first State of the Union address of his second term, President Donald Trump touted economic wins, including on health care, even as more than half of Americans say health care has become more unaffordable for them and their families.
In his speech, Trump claimed he had brought prescription drug costs from the highest in the world to the lowest, thanks to his most-favored nation policy. And he implored congressional Republicans to codify the policy into law, lest his successor hike prescription drug prices.
“It’s going to be very hard for somebody that comes along after me to say, ‘Let’s raise drug prices by 700 or 800%.’ But John and Mike, if you don’t mind, codify it,” he said, directly addressing Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). MFN is not popular among Republican lawmakers, who’ve shied away from addressing the issue. PhRMA has also opposed the policy, with the group’s President and CEO Stephen J. Ubl saying in a statement Tuesday night, “Government-imposed Most Favored Nation policies would undermine U.S. competitiveness while doing nothing to address insurance practices that deny care and raise costs for patients.”
Just a few days ago, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz made the opposite argument when selling the idea to a room full of drugmakers, saying that MFN legislation would protect drugmakers from a future administration lowering prices too much.
Democrats have made health care affordability central to their midterm campaign messaging after Congress failed to renew enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits, sending premiums soaring for millions of Americans during an election year. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by Republicans last summer, also cut more than $1 trillion from government health care spending, mostly from Medicaid, but those cuts will not go into effect until after midterms. At the speech Tuesday night, several Democrats brought constituents from their states who they say have struggled to pay rising health care costs.
