{"id":104415,"date":"2020-07-27T09:16:09","date_gmt":"2020-07-27T16:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=104415"},"modified":"2020-07-27T09:16:09","modified_gmt":"2020-07-27T16:16:09","slug":"president-trump-at-signing-of-executive-orders-on-lowering-drug-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=104415","title":{"rendered":"President Trump at Signing of Executive Orders on Lowering Drug Prices"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230; Thank you very much.  Well, thank you very much, everybody.  Please.  (Applause.)  This promises to be a very big and very important meeting, so bear with me.  Take a little while.  But it has to do with a thing called \u201cdrug pricing.\u201d  And as you know, Congress has been working on this for decades and decades.  And we are now doing something that is going to be incredible for the American public.  So today, I\u2019m taking a bold and historic, very dramatic action to reduce the price of prescription drugs for American patients and American seniors.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IApZGdU0bz8\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Previous administrations did nothing \u2014 absolutely nothing \u2014 as drug lobbyists, special interests, and foreign countries freely ripped off our citizens.  Under the last administration alone, drug prices rose a staggering 55 percent.  Thanks to my administration\u2019s aggressive actions since taking office, we have successfully lowered drug prices for the first time in 51 years.  But this reduction is still not close to what I want, what I expect.  And I\u2019m looking for help for our great seniors especially, in particular.  And that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing today. You\u2019ll hear something which will be very shocking because we\u2019re doing things that nobody thought could be done.  And it\u2019s going to have an incredible impact.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, we\u2019ve been waiting for Congress to take action for many decades to reduce drug prices for more than \u2014 more than just a small handful of people.  But even the small handful of people never got price reductions \u2014 and I\u2019m unwilling to wait any longer.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, today I\u2019m signing four sweeping executive orders that will lead to massive reduction in drug costs.  Massive.  We\u2019ve already gotten them down a little bit, but that\u2019s not good enough.  First time in 51 years, as I said \u2014 but that\u2019s not good enough.  They represent the most far-reaching prescription drug reforms ever issued by a President.  Nothing even close.<\/p>\n<p>Joining us for this important occasion, our Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex \u2014 where\u2019s Alex?  Thank you. Alex Azar.<\/p>\n<p>CMS Administrator \u2014 you\u2019re both doing a great job \u2014 Seema Verma.  Seema.  Thank you, Seema.<\/p>\n<p>FDA administrator, Dr. Stephen Hahn.  Stephen, who\u2019s really speeding up the process of therapeutics and vaccines.  And I just heard from some of the big drug companies, and they\u2019re saying the FDA has really been moving the process along.  That\u2019s very important, Stephen.  Can you move it faster, please?  Okay. (Laughter.)  Thank you.  Great job.  We appreciate it.<\/p>\n<p>And Administrator of Health Resources and Services Administration, Tom Engels.  Tom, thank you.  Thank you very much, Tom, for being here.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re also pleased to have with us our great governor from the State of Florida \u2014 incredible state, incredible guy \u2013Governor Ron DeSantis.  Thank you, Ron, very much.  Appreciate it.  And you\u2019re going to say a few words in the end?  Good.<\/p>\n<p>Representative Matt Gaetz, our friend.  Where is \u2014 hi, Matt.  You\u2019re so quiet back there today.  I\u2019ve never seen you like that.  Thank you, Matt.  Great job you\u2019re doing.  Appreciate it very much.<\/p>\n<p>Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Jos\u00e9 Oliva.  Jos\u00e9.  Thank you, Jos\u00e9, very much.  Good job.<\/p>\n<p>And many other state and local leaders.  We have a lot of them.  Thank you very much for being here.<\/p>\n<p>The four orders that I\u2019m signing today will completely restructure the prescription drug market, in terms of pricing and everything else, to make these medications affordable and accessible for all Americans.<\/p>\n<p>The first order will require federal community health centers to pass the giant discounts they receive from drug companies on insulin and EpiPens directly to their patients.  You know, insulin became so expensive, people weren\u2019t able to use it.  They desperately needed it.  We have it to a level that you\u2019re not going to believe.  EpiPens, likewise \u2014 you\u2019ve been reading horrible stories about EpiPens over the last six, seven years.  Horrible, horrible, horrible increases, where they went from almost nothing to massive amounts of money.  We\u2019re changing that right now.<\/p>\n<p>These providers should not be receiving discounts for themselves while charging their poorest patients massive, full prices.  Under this order, the price of insulin for affected patients will come down to just pennies a day \u2014 pennies a day from numbers that you weren\u2019t even able to think about.  It\u2019s a massive cost savings.<\/p>\n<p>The second executive order I\u2019m signing this afternoon will allow states, wholesalers, and pharmacies to do something other politicians have promised for decades and decades, but never done.  They never delivered.  We will finally allow the safe and legal importation of prescription drugs from Canada and other countries where the price for the identical drug is incredibly lower.  It\u2019s a difference like you wouldn\u2019t believe \u2014 70 percent, 80 percent, 90 percent, 30 percent \u2014 but massively lower than the identical drug made in the same plant, the same factory.  The same exact drug \u2014 same everything, same box, same pill \u2014 and yet, it\u2019s 50, 60, 70 percent lower.<\/p>\n<p>And this is something that Ron and I have been discussing from the time Ron got elected, and I\u2019ve been wanting to do it.  And it takes a long time from a legal standpoint, and we\u2019ve got it all worked out.<\/p>\n<p>So you\u2019re going to be getting mass of drug savings in Florida and other states.  And we\u2019ve had numerous states that wanted to do it.  Ron really was at the forefront, I will say that.  But you have other states that have caught on.  It\u2019s caught on very quickly.  It didn\u2019t take them long to figure that one out, Ron; it\u2019s too obvious.<\/p>\n<p>We pay for all of the research and all of the development, and foreign countries pay absolutely nothing, and our consumer gets charged.  This has been going on for decades.<\/p>\n<p>The American people pay an average of over three times more for medicine than the Canadians.  Many people go to Canada.  I see it all the time.  They go to Canada to buy drugs, and then they come back \u2014 prescription drugs \u2014 because they save so much money.  The trip is well worth it.  The Obama-Biden administration pledged to end this unfairness and allowed drug importation, but they never got it done.  They were unable to get it done.  They didn\u2019t get a lot of things done.<\/p>\n<p>But under my administration, we\u2019re standing up to the lobbyists and special interests and fighting back against a rigged system.  \u201cRigged system\u201d \u2014 you\u2019ve heard that word before.  I\u2019m unrigging the system that is many decades old.  We\u2019re doing something that should have been done a long time ago.<\/p>\n<p>The third revolutionary order I\u2019m signing today will prevent middlemen \u2014 and women, I guess \u2014 but you\u2019ve heard about the middleman, right?  The middleman that makes so much money.  Nobody knows who they are.  Nobody has any idea who they are.  They make more money, perhaps, than even the drug companies themselves.  And the drug companies, in all fairness to them \u2014 big pharma \u2014 and they\u2019re doing a great job on the vaccines.  They\u2019re doing a great job on therapeutics.  I can tell you because I deal with them a lot.  But I think the middlemen make more money than they do, and they don\u2019t do much.  Maybe they don\u2019t do anything.  Some people say they don\u2019t do anything.  Nobody even knows who they are.<\/p>\n<p>But the middlemen are making a fortune.  And pharmacy benefit managers and people are just bilking Medicare patients with these high drug prices while they pocket gigantic discounts.  Gigantic discounts.<\/p>\n<p>The amount of money they have made over the decades is too incredible even to speculate or say.  It\u2019s \u2014 it\u2019s massive.  Some very rich people are not going to like me very much today, I can tell you.  (Laughter.)  I probably know them very well.  I probably see them in Palm Beach.  (Laughter.)  But nobody ever talks about who they are.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone \u2014 I hear \u201cthe middlemen\u201d for years.  \u201cThe middlemen.\u201d  Right, Alex?  And he doesn\u2019t know who they are either, but he knows they\u2019re rich.  And they\u2019re not going to be so rich anymore because the money is going down to reduce the price of drugs \u2014 prescription drugs.<\/p>\n<p>So that\u2019s a big thing.  That\u2019s a tremendous step.  It should have been taken a long time ago.  But they have a great deal of power.  And I don\u2019t have to tell you how many phone calls I\u2019ve had in the last few days when they heard I was going to be doing this.  It\u2019s \u2014 I\u2019ve heard from people that I haven\u2019t spoken to in a long time.<\/p>\n<p>Frequently, drug companies give these middlemen discounts of up to 50 percent of the price of prescription drugs.  But too often, those discounts are not passed on to the pharmacy counter \u2014 meaning the people.<\/p>\n<p>This rule will pass those billions and billions of dollars a year \u2014 I mean, many, many billions a year in discounts onto patients \u2014 directly onto patients \u2014 saving Americans with high drug costs thousands of dollars a year. Individual people will make thousands of dollars a year.  You\u2019re not going to believe the impact that the things we\u2019re talking about today are \u2014 are going to have.<\/p>\n<p>Mark Meadows, our chief \u2014 our great chief \u2014 is sitting here and he\u2019s just \u2014 can\u2019t even believe it because he was a very successful congressman.  He\u2019s been after people to do this for a long time, and they never got to the gate.  I understand why.  Tremendous pressure.  Tremendous pressure put on the President not to do it.<\/p>\n<p>The fourth and final order I\u2019m signing today \u2014 this is the granddaddy of them all \u2014 will end global freeloading on the backs of American patients and American seniors.  For decades, our citizens have paid the highest prices for drugs \u2014 prescription drugs \u2014 anywhere in the world, and it\u2019s not even close.<\/p>\n<p>Foreign nations have paid vastly less for the exact same drug \u2014 again, in the exact same box, from the exact same plant, from the exact same company.  They would pay 10 percent, 20 percent, 30 percent what our people are paying.  A pill that would sell for \u2014 for $1 in certain countries.  I won\u2019t name them.  They\u2019re all allies, right?  They call them \u201callies.\u201d  I call them \u201cso-called allies.\u201d  But a pill that would cost $1 could be $7, $8 in our country.  Same exact pill.  We pay 80 percent more than nations like Germany, Canada, and others for some of the most expensive medicines, identical in all respects.<\/p>\n<p>This means that Americans are funding the enormous cost of drug research and development for the entire planet.  We\u2019re \u2014 we are bearing the entire cost of all of this; they\u2019re bearing none.  They say, \u201cThis is what we\u2019re going to pay.\u201d  In some cases, it\u2019s a socialist country.  So we\u2019re paying to reduce drug prices in a socialist country.  How does that work?  How does that work?  And these are things that should have been done a long time ago.  And even from our standpoint, we would have done it more quickly, but we have to go through vast amounts of waiting periods, waiting times.<\/p>\n<p>And this is an incredible day.  This is just a big day.  This is a big day.  I\u2019ve been waiting for this day for a long time.<\/p>\n<p>We incredibly and foolishly bear the full cost of all research and development, which is massive, in all fairness to the drug companies.  It can take 15 years to get something approved.  Billions and billions of dollars for a simple drug.  It also means that the U.S. taxpayers are effectively subsidizing the socialist healthcare systems of foreign welfare states and many other countries.  We will end that abuse and restore the principles of free enterprise, but this doesn\u2019t even have to do with free enterprise.  This has to do with common sense and courage, to be honest \u2014 and courage.<\/p>\n<p>Under this transformative order, Medicare will be required to purchase drugs at the same price as other countries pay.  So we would pay four or five times more for a drug.  We now pay \u2014 if somebody else pays $1 and we pay $5, we\u2019re paying $1.  Now what\u2019s going to happen is their number will go up, our number will come very substantially down, and we\u2019ll all agree at two and a half or two or whatever the final number is.<\/p>\n<p>But if some country is paying \u2014 wherever it may be in the world, because they had a better negotiator, because they had smarter people than we have.  And that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about. Maybe more honest people.  Who knows?  Could be a lot of things going.  But we have \u2014 we get now the lowest price anywhere in the world.  And no more will we have to suffer by saying, \u201cGee, why is it so much cheaper for the exact same drug in some other country?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We will determine what other medically advanced nations pay for the most expensive drugs, and instead of paying the highest price, Medicare will pay the lowest price and so will lots of other U.S. buyers.  Medicare is the largest purchaser of drugs anywhere in the world by far.  Medicare \u2014 largest purchaser of drugs in the world.  And we\u2019re finally going to use that incredible power to achieve a fairer and lower price for everyone.  Everyone will get a fairer and much lower price.  This is not talking about one half of a percent.  This is big stuff.<\/p>\n<p>Under our ridiculous system, which has been broken for decades, we aren\u2019t even allowed to negotiate the price of drugs.  Can you believe it?  I said, \u201cWhat are we going to negotiate?\u201d  We\u2019re not allowed \u2014 we\u2019re restricted by Congress from negotiating the price of drugs.  Can you imagine?  You say, \u201cI want to get a better price.\u201d  \u201cI\u2019m sorry, sir.  You\u2019re not allowed to do that.  That\u2019s illegal.\u201d  What kind of a system is that?  Do you think the world looks at us and said, \u201cWhere the hell did these people come from?\u201d  But they treat us very nicely, but it\u2019s not \u2014 it\u2019s going to end, okay?<\/p>\n<p>I see you\u2019re a \u2014 you\u2019re a fan of what we\u2019re saying.  You must be a doctor.  Are you a doctor?  Yeah?  Doctors know.  The doctors know.  You\u2019ve known that for years.  We\u2019re not allowed to negotiate.  Can you believe it?  We just have to take whatever it is.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m pleased to announce that as a result of the orders I\u2019m signing today, the heads of the major drug companies have requested a meeting to discuss how we can quickly and significantly lower drug prices and out-of-pocket expenses for Americans.  They want to do what\u2019s right.  Look, they\u2019re going to do what\u2019s right.  Look, I think it\u2019s so important what they\u2019re doing on therapeutics and vaccines.  And we\u2019re going to see them on Tuesday.  We\u2019ll see if we can do something here.  But this could\u2019ve been done a long time ago.<\/p>\n<p>The drug company executives will be at the White House on Tuesday, and they have some ideas how to significantly reduce drug prices.  We\u2019ve already given them to you.  I don\u2019t know if they can possibly do something to substitute for what\u2019s called \u201cfavored nations.\u201d  Favored nations \u2014 that means we get the lowest price anywhere in the world.  Whoever gets the best price, congratulations.  Thank you very much for being a good negotiator because we now get the lowest price, too.  It should have been done a long time ago.<\/p>\n<p>If these talks are successful, we may not need to implement the fourth executive order, which is a very tough order for them.  Very tough.  And I understand that.  And we have a lot of respect for our great pharmaceutical companies, drug companies.  We have a lot respect for them.  So we\u2019ll see what they have to say on Tuesday.  Maybe they have an idea that\u2019s good, but it\u2019s got to be very substantial.  They\u2019re actually in favor of the rebate rule \u2014 the rollback \u2014 because they say that\u2019s people getting money that aren\u2019t even doing anything for it \u2014 and bigger money than they\u2019re getting, I believe.  If they are not, the order will be implemented if we don\u2019t do a deal or agree to something.<\/p>\n<p>The order \u2014 number four, \u201cfavored nations\u201d \u2014 a big order.  They\u2019re all big.  All four are very big, by the way.  Very big.  But the fourth order, we\u2019re going to hold that until August 24th, hoping that the pharmaceutical companies will come up with something that will substantially reduce drug prices.  And the clock starts right now.  So it\u2019s August 24th at 12:00, after which the order on favored nations will go into effect.  And, Mark, I\u2019ll hold you to it, please: 12:00 \u2014 not 12:01, right?<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, we\u2019re working very hard on therapeutics and a vaccine for the China virus, which remains our top priority and which are coming along at record speed.  Thank you very much, Dr. Hahn.  Been fantastic.  You really have been fantastic.  Two vaccine candidates are entering the final stage of clinical trials this month.  Right?  Two.  And several more vaccines will enter final trials in the following weeks.<\/p>\n<p>I did speak to one just recently; they\u2019re working on therapeutics, as opposed to vaccine.  And frankly, I\u2019m \u2014 that\u2019s the most exciting to me.  We can walk into a hospital right now and get people better.  I like that even more.  But the vaccine, long term, will be great.<\/p>\n<p>So we have them both going.  They\u2019re both going rapidly, and they\u2019re both going very well.  And, I guess, the early indications are beyond \u2014 we\u2019re beyond happy, right?  It\u2019s beyond happy.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re mass producing all of the most promising candidates already so that, on day one \u2014 that means that we think we have the answer, otherwise we wouldn\u2019t be making that bet. It\u2019s a big bet.  So that on day one, the day we get it approved, it will be available immediately.  Doctor, is that correct?  So if we get it approved \u2014 now, normally this process would take \u2014 to get up to where we are now \u2014 three years, four years.  I\u2019ve heard numbers like that.  And we did it in, literally, a matter of weeks.  That\u2019s a really incredible thing.<\/p>\n<p>One of the other things I was talking about \u2014 drugs in the pipeline, for getting drugs approved.  And it does cost billions of dollars, and it would be 12 years, 15 years.  And under Dr. Hahn and Scott, before \u2014 you worked very hard; Scott Gottlieb \u2014 we\u2019ve got that down to a number that\u2019s less than half, and we\u2019re going down further.  We have to make sure it\u2019s safe.<\/p>\n<p>And Right to Try came out of this whole thing, where we have a drug that we think is good.  Matt Gaetz helped with this, in getting it approved; and Mark, when he was a congressman.  But we had great help from certain people.<\/p>\n<p>But Right to Try is incredible.  We have a drug that works, but it\u2019s got to go through this very long and very detailed process for purposes of safety and to make sure it\u2019s good.  If somebody is terminally ill, very sick \u2014 a person not going to make it, a person very sick \u2014 we passed legislation, which they\u2019ve been trying to get for 42 years.  It\u2019s called Right to Try, where people sign a document, then if it doesn\u2019t work out, they\u2019re not suing the drug company, they\u2019re not suing the insurance company, and they\u2019re not suing our country.  And instead of travelling \u2014 if they have money, they travel to Asia, and they travel to Europe; they travel all over the world in the hopes of finding a cure.  They\u2019re terminally ill.  If they have no money, sadly, they go home with no hope and they die.<\/p>\n<p>We have now a program: Right to Try.  Finally happened after, I guess, as long as you\u2019ve been a doctor.  Long before you became a doctor \u2014 right? \u2014 they\u2019ve been trying to get this.  But we now have a program where they can try these really promising medicines.  And you have no idea how successful this has already been.  It\u2019s incredible.<\/p>\n<p>And one of the things that really came out of it \u2014 it was the biggest problem for the drug companies.  They didn\u2019t want it because they didn\u2019t want in their sample because people that are that sick, they want in the sample.  And so we created a separate sample so it doesn\u2019t hurt them.  But one of the things that\u2019s come out of it is: If it works, what is a better testing formula than that?  Somebody that\u2019s terminally ill and then all of sudden makes it, and we\u2019re having examples of that.  It\u2019s been incredible.  It\u2019s been an incredible program.  I hope somebody is going to be able to write a story about it because it\u2019s been one of the things that we\u2019re \u2014 I\u2019m very proud of it.  I love the name even: Right to Try.  They have the right to try a drug that\u2019s not going to be available for two years or three years.  They\u2019re terminally ill.<\/p>\n<p>Before, you\u2019d say, \u201cWell, they\u2019re terminally ill, yeah.  But we don\u2019t want to give them a drug that\u2019s going to hurt them.\u201d  Well, they\u2019re going to be \u2014 they\u2019re going to die, and they didn\u2019t want to give them a drug because they thought it might be dangerous.  And perhaps, in some cases, it may be dangerous.  But we\u2019re having tremendous, tremendous success with that program.  I\u2019m proud of it.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, my administration has secured 90 percent of the world\u2019s supply of the drug remdesivir, which is having great impact for the United States.  And research continues daily on a lot of promising treatments, as I said.  As we take these historic actions, we\u2019re joined today by Americans who\u2019ve already benefitted from the steps my administration has already taken to reduce the cost of healthcare and prescription drugs.  We\u2019re going to have a big healthcare bill that we\u2019re going to be putting up very shortly, and it\u2019s going to be very complete.<\/p>\n<p>And today, what we\u2019re doing on prescription drugs \u2014 and again, we\u2019ll have to see what happens on August 25th.  We\u2019ll either do \u201cthe favored nations\u201d or not, depending on the drug companies.  But what we\u2019re putting up in a very short period of time on healthcare will be incredible.  We have another one coming on immigration.  A tremendous bill on immigration.  And it\u2019ll be, I think, something that nobody thought we would be able to get.  So that\u2019ll be great.<\/p>\n<p>Paul Madden is a senior citizen who relies on insulin every day.  He was paying a fortune \u2014 everything \u2014 to get it.  Paul, if you could \u2014 I think Paul is in the audience.  And if you could please come up and say a few words about your experience?  Thank you, Paul.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>MR. MADDEN:  Thank you very much.  So you can hear me.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  That\u2019s better.<\/p>\n<p>MR. MADDEN:  Mr. President, thank you so very much for this time to share a few key points supporting your leadership work reducing the price of insulin and other diabetes-related medicines used by 34 [million] Americans each day to live healthier, fuller lives.<\/p>\n<p>As you heard, my name is Paul Madden.  I\u2019m a Bostonian.  I have lived with insulin-dependent diabetes for 59 years. Beginning Medicare last year, I quickly realized that my ability to afford prescribed insulins that worked best for my health was no longer possible because of their excessive high price.  Soaring costs have impacted the quality of my life.  Remember that number: 34 million people with diabetes.  It has impacted so much I even started to use a 30-year-old insulin to survive, which does not do quite the same great job of balancing my diabetes.<\/p>\n<p>Your work, sir, to ensure that insulin is affordable under Medicare will help guarantee that I and millions of seniors who take insulin realize healthier, more productive, independent, happier lives.  Thank you for continuing your commitment to ensure affordability and access for all who use insulin, for people with diabetes, and so that our children and grandchildren will directly benefit from our improved health.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.  Thank you, Paul.  That\u2019s great.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s actually brought it from many, many, many dollars \u2014 unaffordable by most people \u2014 to pennies \u2014 literally, pennies a month.<\/p>\n<p>And I want to thank, Seema.  You worked so hard on that one.  Seema, could you just say something about that.  It was \u2014 the price.  Would you come up, just for a second, Seema Verma, and just tell them about what we\u2019ve done with respect to very badly needed insulin?  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>ADMINISTRATOR VERMA:  Well, the Senior Savings Model that we developed under the President\u2019s leadership is going to reduce the cost of insulin to $35 a month for our seniors.  And that represents a 66 percent savings.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>I can tell you, the Vice President and I were traveling in Pennsylvania.  We had a gentleman that came up to us, and he showed us his insulin, and he said, \u201cYou\u2019re going to save me $5,000 a year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So thank you, President Trump for your leadership.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.  Great job.  That\u2019s a great job.  Thank you.  That\u2019s a tremendous \u2014 that\u2019s a tremendous difference.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re also joined by Andrea Eckles, a dental hygienist from Brunswick, Maryland.  Andrea, please come up and say a few words.  Thank you.  Please.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>MS. ECKLES:  Thank you, Mr. President.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.<\/p>\n<p>MS. ECKLES:  My name is Andrea Eckles, and I am a dental hygienist in Brunswick, Maryland.  I was widowed when my husband died in a tragic auto accident, and my twin girls were four at the time.  He held our family health insurance through his corporate job, and I suddenly found myself having to work fulltime, and put my children in fulltime daycare, and watch my budget very closely.  This was a number of years ago.<\/p>\n<p>And at that time, my only choice for healthcare \u2014 I work in a very small dental office, and so my only choice for healthcare at that time was what I call the \u201cUnaffordable Care Act.\u201d  And I was paying very high premiums and copays, and way too much for prescription drugs.  And interestingly, I \u2014 you referenced the EpiPen, and I had to purchase EpiPens and inhalers.  And it got to the point, actually, where I couldn\u2019t even afford to renew the EpiPen.  I think I still have a, probably, 15-year-old EpiPen at my house, because it just \u2014 they\u2019ve got to be $700.  But, in my case, this led \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  What do they start at?  So, it\u2019s $700.  What did they start at?<\/p>\n<p>MS. ECKLES:  The original EpiPen \u2014 I feel like it was like a $20 copay, way back when we first got it.  But then as the \u2014 each year, you know, it just kept going up, up to the \u2014 but I incidentally ended up \u2014 with all of these increases and copays and everything thing over time, I ended up with an over-15,000-dollar medical debt.  And I\u2019m just a regular person; I don\u2019t have ridiculously, you know, major illnesses or anything.<\/p>\n<p>But during your presidency, President Trump, my premiums have decreased exponentially, and my coverage has increased.  My copays have just about disappeared \u2014 you know, or gone way down.  And prescription drugs that I used to budget for myself are \u2014 at $150 a month \u2014 is now $15 a month.  And because of you, I\u2019m spending hundreds of dollars less a month.  And this type of savings makes it a really big difference for a single mother, such as myself.<\/p>\n<p>So I just want to thank you so much from the bottom of my heart \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>MS. ECKLES:  \u2014 for all that you do, and for all of your policies that are helping all of us Americans.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.  That\u2019s very nice.<\/p>\n<p>MS. ECKLES:   Thank you.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  That\u2019s really nice.  I appreciate it.  Some big difference.  That\u2019s not a 1 percent or 2 percent; that\u2019s big.  That\u2019s big dollars.  And I want to thank you both very much.  Thank you very much.<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s actions continue my administration\u2019s relentless drive to deliver better healthcare at a lower cost.  I signed an executive order to fight kidney disease.  That was such a big thing.  That was such a beautiful, important thing to do.  With more transplants and better treatment \u2014 people with kidney disease go through hell.  They go through hell.  Their life is hell.  And we\u2019ve done a lot, and we\u2019re very proud of it.  We\u2019ve really seen some results that are incredible.<\/p>\n<p>We dramatically expanded the telehealth for all American patients and families in telehealth.  And this pandemic era have been \u2014 it\u2019s increased by, I would say, thousands.  It was like 1,020 percent.  Incredible.  It\u2019s been up at a level that nobody has ever imagined.  And it actually is very good.  It\u2019s been something that has come out of \u2014 out of the pandemic; one of the only good things that came out of it, frankly, is people are realizing how good that is.  It really worked out well.<\/p>\n<p>We strongly defended Medicare and Social Security, and we will always protect \u2014 and we have been protecting, and we always will \u2014 protect Republicans \u2014 totally protect preexisting conditions, very important.  Nothing is going to happen to your preexisting protections.<\/p>\n<p>We ended the gag clause that prevented pharmaceuticals and pharmacists from telling patients how to buy less expensive drugs.  We had a clause that, if you went up to a pharmacist \u2014 is this a correct statement to \u2014 and this \u2014 it\u2019s not even believable \u2014 you couldn\u2019t talk about price.  If the man or woman behind the counter started talking about price, what happens?  You take the license away?  This is not even believable.<\/p>\n<p>So think of that, we prevented \u2014 it prevented pharmacists from telling patients how to buy less expensive drugs.  We have a less expensive drug that\u2019s just as good, \u201cI can\u2019t talk about it.\u201d  They can\u2019t even say that.  I wonder why.  Can you imagine these things?<\/p>\n<p>We approved a record number of affordable, low-cost generics.  We\u2019ve increased generics more than administration, by many times.  And many of the generics \u2014 I would say, from what I\u2019m hearing, all of the generics \u2014 sometimes people want to see a label \u2014 but they say they\u2019re just as good as the others, except you pay a lot less money.  We\u2019ve increased them more than any administration; it\u2019s not even close.<\/p>\n<p>And we capped insulin costs \u2014 that we just discussed \u2014 for many Medicare recipients and for a lot of other people at just $35 a month.  And it was many times that, as you\u2019ve just heard.<\/p>\n<p>Right to Try, I talked about; so proud of it.  Nothing matters more to me than the health and wellbeing of the American people.  There\u2019s nothing more important to me.<\/p>\n<p>With today\u2019s actions, we\u2019re ending decades of sellouts, betrayals, and broken promises from Washington.  You\u2019ve had a lot of broken promises.  I would say \u201cexclusively\u201d broken.  You\u2019ve had it \u2014 it\u2019s been uniform broken promises.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re putting patients over lobbyists, senior citizens before special interests, and we\u2019re putting America first.  I\u2019m putting America first.  When you look at what we\u2019re doing with favored nations, on the basis that it kicks in on August 25th, we\u2019ll see \u2014 see what they have to offer.  But when you think about it, what are we doing?  We\u2019re putting America first \u2014 when you hear other countries getting a much better deal on drug prices.<\/p>\n<p>There are people that have told me, \u201cThis is more important than healthcare.\u201d  We\u2019re doing healthcare, but this is more important than anything: the price of drugs.  They were getting slaughtered \u2014 slaughtered by drug prices.<\/p>\n<p>So thank you very much.  I want to thank you all for being here.  I\u2019d like to ask, if I could, Alex to come up, please \u2014 Secretary Azar \u2014 to say a few words, and then I\u2019ll sign an executive order.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d also like to ask the governor of Florida \u2014 Ron, you\u2019re going to come up and say a few words.  And we\u2019ll sign up, and you\u2019ll go out and buy those drugs, and save 50 or 60 percent for the people of Florida, and other people will be joining you.  And that\u2019s great.<\/p>\n<p>I want to let you \u2014 you will tell me how you do.  And I\u2019d work on it really fast, because now with all of the media back here, you\u2019re under extraordinary pressure, and you never have pressure.<\/p>\n<p>One thing I\u2019ll tell you about Ron \u2014 Matt will tell you \u2014 he handles pressure well.  And you\u2019re doing a great job.  Thank you very much.  Please, Alex.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY AZAR:  Well, Mr. \u2014 Mr. President, thank you so much for your leadership here.  You charged all of us with four goals: ending foreign freeriding, improving how our federal programs pay for drugs, lowering out-of-pockets for our citizens, and getting list prices down.<\/p>\n<p>And you did your Drug Pricing Blueprint in May of 2018.  Before then, every single year there were massive drug price increases, massive price inflation.  Since your Drug Pricing Blueprint, those \u2014 that level of inflation has stopped, and that was an incredible accomplishment.<\/p>\n<p>But you said, \u201cThat\u2019s not good enough.  I want more \u2014 even more change for the American people.\u201d  And today, you\u2019re delivering the \u2014 the import \u2014 allowing importation.  Presidents before you have promised over and over again to allow importa- \u2014 the safe importation of drugs from lower-cost countries.  You\u2019re the first President to deliver on it.  You\u2019re going to have Governor DeSantis\u2019s program for states and tribes to import; you\u2019re going to have a personal importation program, where individuals can get their drugs, low cost, from abroad; and you\u2019re going to have an insulin re-importation program so Americans can get their insulin reimported from Canada at lower prices.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re taking on the federal health centers.  You\u2019re taking on the issue that they are getting radical discounts on insulin and EpiPens.  And you\u2019re going to make sure low-income Americans get the benefit of those discounts.<\/p>\n<p>And you\u2019re taking on the middlemen.  Thirty billion dollars a year of concealed kickbacks to middlemen are going to now flow to Medicare patients when they show up at the pharmacy.  An average of 30 percent discounts and out-of-pockets when they show up at a pharmacy, thanks to the President\u2019s bold action.<\/p>\n<p>As we\u2019re going to end foreign freeriding, taking on foreign socialist systems that have been living off of the American seniors\u2019 investments by overpaying in drug prices.  And now they\u2019re going to have to bear their fair share.  I got to tell you, you have been \u2014 what you\u2019ve done and what you\u2019re doing, today, you\u2019ve done more than any President in American history to take on drug prices.  You have ta- \u2014 (applause) \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY AZAR:  You\u2019re taking on the drug companies, you\u2019re taking on the middlemen, you\u2019re taking on the European socialists \u2014 all for the forgotten men and women of America who show up at a pharmacy counter.  And for that, I am so proud of what you\u2019re doing today.  Thank you, Mr. President.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.  Great, Alex.  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you, Alex.<\/p>\n<p>Please, Ron.  Please.<\/p>\n<p>GOVERNOR DESANTIS:  Well, Mr. President, thanks for your leadership on this.  When we started the legislative session in Florida in 2019, our speaker of the house, Jos\u00e9 Oliva, who is here with me \u2014 he had a big healthcare agenda.  So we did some phenomenal things, like expand telehealth, repeal certificate-of-need laws.  But he really wanted to do something big on prescription drugs.  I did too, because it\u2019s obviously an issue.<\/p>\n<p>But I told Jos\u00e9 \u2014 I said, \u201cListen, we got to find a way where we will actually be able to accomplish something.\u201d  I don\u2019t want to just throw a flare up there, and then virtue signal that we\u2019re doing something about drugs, and then nothing works.  And so there was a provision of law which required the federal government\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n<p>So we had a plan in Florida.  We moved forward.  I went to see you.  And this law has been on the books for at least almost 20 years.  So other Presidents have had the ability to pull this lever, and they didn\u2019t do it.  And I went up and asked you, and not everyone was in favor of you doing it. You had a lot of people saying, \u201cDon\u2019t do it.\u201d  But you were laser focused on lowering drug prices for people, particularly our seniors in the state of Florida.  And that was abundantly clear.<\/p>\n<p>And so when Florida then moved forward, we knew we had your support.  We knew that this day would eventually come.  And I think the \u2014 the fact that where we\u2019re standing here today \u2014 obviously, Florida, you know, we did some groundwork, but really, it\u2019s a result of presidential leadership.<\/p>\n<p>So the people of Florida, I want to thank you for siding with us on this.  This \u2014 like I said, this could\u2019ve been done for almost 20 years.  It hasn\u2019t been done.  So you\u2019re the one that got it done.<\/p>\n<p>So, Mr. President, thank you.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much, Ron.  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>So we\u2019re going to sign four very important documents.  I just want to thank Amy.  And congratulations, Amy, to you.  That elevation is a big one.  And you\u2019re going to do fantastically.  Russell, congratulations.   He just got confirmed, and we appreciate it.  Fantastic job.  And, Pat, thank you very much for being here.  We appreciate it.  Thank you very much.<\/p>\n<p>Okay, let\u2019s go.<\/p>\n<p>(The executive orders are signed.)  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Thank you all very much.<\/p>\n<p>END                <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230; Thank you very much. Well, thank you very much, everybody. Please. (Applause.) This promises to be a very big and very important meeting, so bear with me. Take a little while. But it has to do with a thing called \u201cdrug pricing.\u201d And as you know, Congress has been working on this for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":104416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,20,5,33,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-featured","category-government","category-health-fitness","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/19-President-Trump-Delivers-Remarks-and-Signs-Executive-Orders-on-Lowering-Drug-Prices-YouTube-Google-Chrome-7272020-91433-AM.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=104415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/104416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=104415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=104415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=104415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}