Trump is about to break a major campaignpromise
During his campaign for president, Donald Trump sounded a lot like Bernie Sanders on one policy issue: He promised to implement sweeping government reform to lower drug prices and called Big Pharma executives “disgusting” for profiting off life-saving medication.
It was a campaign pledge that earned Trump some praise for his apparent populism. But it’s not one that Trump seems prepared to keep.
According to reporting from Kaiser Health News and Politico, the Trump administration’s task force working on policy solutions for rising drug prices is now cozying up to pharmaceutical industry interests.
Documents from the task force reviewed by the two outlets reveal the administration is backing away from ambitious reform, such as allowing the government to directly negotiate with Medicare over drug prices, in favor of focusing on policy priorities that mirror Big Pharma talking points.
For instance, one of the “principles” outlined in the documents is extending the patent monopolies on drugs overseas, a policy that threatens to drive up prices because it thwarts generic competition in the global marketplace. One of the central features of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, this policy sparked huge concern among health care advocates during debate over the TPP.
https://thinkprogress.org/trump-pharma-campaign-promises-922abf70ee75
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