President Trump is set to make more medications available on his discounted-drug website TrumpRx on Monday, according to a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the remarks.
The expanded offerings, to be announced at an afternoon White House healthcare affordability event, could beef up a government website that the Republican administration has touted as providing relief to Americans who are struggling with rising health costs.
Skeptical Democrats have criticized TrumpRx as performative, noting that many of the drugs it features are already inexpensive for people with insurance or come in lower-cost generic versions sold elsewhere. Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts last month called it a “conduit for Big Pharma to steer consumers to expensive brand-name drugs when cheaper generics are available.”
The government-hosted website is not a platform for buying medications. Instead, it’s set up as a facilitator, pointing Americans to drugmakers’ direct-to-consumer websites, where they can make purchases. It also provides coupons to use at pharmacies. The site initially launched in February with over 40 medications, including weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy.
Monday’s announcement, first reported by Bloomberg News, comes as affordability has emerged as a top voter concern for the November midterm elections. Health costs are a worry for many Americans, an issue compounded by recent cuts to Medicaid and the expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies this year that sent some people’s premiums skyrocketing.
Besides TrumpRx, the administration has promoted other efforts to lower drug costs, including deals between the president and the 17 major drugmakers to offer medications at the same prices that appear in other developed countries, or lower.
Swenson writes for the Associated Press.
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