Will Trump go hard on Medicare drug price negotiation?

Democrats did the grueling work of passing a law to let Medicare negotiate drug prices. President Trump might be its biggest beneficiary.

Since his first term, Trump has demanded that drugmakers charge Americans lower drug prices that are on par with those available in other wealthy countries, a policy often referred to as most-favored nation.

But the plans to achieve that are vague, and they would likely be difficult to pull off. Some investors and Washington insiders believe the Trump administration is quietly relying on Medicare’s existing drug price negotiation program to lower prices, while publicly criticizing it.

Read more for how the Medicare program might fit into Trump’s strategy.

drug industry

DTC drug sales unlikely to make a big dent on prices

Elaine Chen writes about the limitations of selling drugs directly to consumers. The aim is to lower prices by cutting out insurance companies and their drug middlemen PBMs.

Some of Trump’s proposals have not been popular with the drug industry, but drug companies are enthusiastic about DTC sales. Some had already started doing so for weight-loss treatments, and others have announced their intention to do so in response to Trump’s demands.

But the scheme is unlikely to make most drugs more affordable, several health policy and drug pricing experts tell Elaine Chen. Read more for why.

maha

Digging into a leaked draft of the MAHA report

A team of STAT reporters dives into the much-awaited draft report on how the Trump administration plans to make Americans healthier.

While the document, titled “Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy,” retreads key MAHA ground, including the need to cut artificial food dyes and encourage physical activity, it also offers a more expansive view of where health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to steer his agency, according to Isabella Cueto, Sarah Todd, Elizabeth Cooney, O. Rose Broderick, and Anil Oza.

The report mostly calls for more research in areas that include nutrition, agricultural chemicals, and “potential benefits of select high-quality supplements.” Read more for what the report includes and, importantly, excludes.

financial conflicts

Conflict-of-interest report conflicts with RFK Jr.’s assertions

Kennedy has said the CDC's vaccine advisory board was rife with conflicts of interest. A new analysis shows the rate of conflicts had dropped to 5% by last year, according to Ed Silverman

That’s down from 43% in 2000 on the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Kennedy fired all 17 members of that committee, in part because he believed they were too close to the vaccine industry, and replaced them with 8 hand-picked members, some of whom have their own conflicts and backgrounds rooted in vaccine skepticism.

The report also details the level of financial conflicts on FDA advisory panels. Read more.

food as medicine

A culinary medicine pioneer on healthy food in the MAHA era

Healthy eating is a tenet of the MAHA movement. Sarah interviews David Eisenberg, who has been working to fight chronic disease via healthy cooking education for around 25 years, to get his take on where things are headed.

The question-and-answer session goes into the origins of teaching kitchens, why doctors often don’t cook, how to get people to crave healthy food, and the zen of chopping.

What we’re reading

Health care CEOs harvest billions even as industry lags broader stock market, STAT
Texas declares its measles outbreak over, AP
Opinion: Former CDC Director William Foege: How public health can fight back in a time of dangerous nonsense, STAT
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine strategy risks forcing shots off market, manufacturers warn, CNN
As Medicaid cuts loom, North Carolina shows the stakes, The Washington Post