Trump announces change of rules to lower Medicare drug prices, facing Big Pharma backlash

US President Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump announced new rules that would allow Medicare to pay far less for drugs than previously and pass discounts on to patients rather than middlemen. Pharmaceutical lobbyists are vowing to fight them in court.

The first rule would end the arrangement under which middlemen – pharmacy benefit managers – reap the lion’s share of the discount to drug prices and pass those savings on to patients directly. It would also end the practice of doctors getting paid a percentage of the price of the drugs they prescribe, Trump announced on Friday at the White House.

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