Trump is about to lay out his plans to lower drug prices - here's what to expect

REUTERS/Leah Millis

Donald Trump.

• President Donald Trump is expected to make a speech Friday about ways to lower the price of prescription drugs.
• According to senior administration officials, Trump plans to talk about how to increase competition, get more negotiating power, and find ways to lower pharmaceutical list prices as well as the out-of-pocket costs patients are facing.
• Trump is also expected to criticize what he calls "foreign freeloaders" for high drug prices.

President Donald Trump is expected to give a speech on Friday about lowering drug prices.

Trump will focus on finding ways to increase competition, get more negotiating power, and finding ways to lower pharmaceutical list prices as well as the out-of-pocket costs patients are facing according to senior administration officials familiar with the speech.

The speech will also go after other countries that pay less than the US for drugs.

Along with the speech will be an outline of what the administration plans to do about them, as well as highlighting budget proposals that would make changes to how drugs are paid for under Medicare, which insures Americans who are 65 and older.

In particular, Trump plans to introduce Medicare reforms that include:

• More flexibility to improve pricing negotiations. The government currently can't negotiate prices for drugs that are part of Medicare's Part D program, which covers most prescription drugs.
• Giving free generics to seniors.
• Mandating that plans pass along rebates to patients.
• Creating an out-of-pocket maximum so that seniors aren't on the hook for high prices.

Trump has said that drugmakers are "getting away with murder," and has expressed an interest in negotiating drug prices, something the government isn't allowed to do for Medicare and Medicaid.

Later in January, Trump met with the heads of pharma companies, where he reiterated his interest in bringing drug prices down in the US.

In 2018, the president has been relatively quiet about the price of prescription drugs, though top officials in his administration have called out different parts of the healthcare industry.