Can Trump use the bully pulpit to lower drug prices? Don’t bet on it
WASHINGTON — Is there a Trump effect on drug prices?
President Trump has not yet made his much-ballyhooed speech on drug prices, and a rumored executive order never came to pass. And yet in Washington there are already suggestions among some administration officials that the political climate created by the president — to say nothing of his comments about drug makers “getting away with murder” — has helped keep prices in check.
“It looks like retail list price increases were flat last year. Is that because of President Trump’s tweets?” one Health and Human Services Department official asked at a briefing last month.
“There’s some reality to that. Manufacturers heard they were in the crosshairs, and a number of them came out and said they weren’t going to take their
