Majority of Americans Lack Confidence That Drug Prices Will Drop Under Trump Plan

When the Trump administration unveiled the “American Patients First” blueprint to lower drug prices in May 2018, it indicated that its priorities were improving competition, improving negotiation, lowering list prices for drugs, and reducing out-of-pocket spending for patients. At the time, stakeholders met the plan with cautious optimism.

However, according to a recent poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, only 38% of Americans say that they are either very confident or somewhat confident that the administration’s plan will result in paying less for their prescription drugs.

Click to read more about the drug pricing blueprint.

Republicans had the greatest level of confidence in the drug pricing plan, with 40% reporting that they were very confident and 43% reporting that they were somewhat confident that they would see lower prices for their medicines. By contrast, just 4% of Democrats were very confident, and 25% were somewhat confident, that they would experience a reduction in the prices that they pay for their drugs.

Furthermore, a majority of Americans (55%) said that the President’s strategy of publicly criticizing drug companies and calling for them to reduce the cost of their drugs was likely to be not at all effective or not too effective.

Increases in the amount that individuals pay for their healthcare are front-of-mind for a majority of Americans; 58% of respondents said they were “very concerned,” and 30% said they were “somewhat concerned,” about growing costs to individuals.

Americans overwhelmingly agree that pharmaceutical companies’ profits are a major reason behind continually rising healthcare costs; 78% of respondents cited drug company profits as a major reason for growing healthcare costs. Respondents also cited fraud and waste in the healthcare system (71%), overcharging by hospitals (71%), and excessive profits for insurance companies (70%) as the other major reasons for cost growth.

Kaiser’s poll also revealed that healthcare costs are a key issue for voters as the nation approaches the 2018 elections; when voters who said that they want candidates to talk about healthcare are asked which issue they most want to hear discussed, 27% of all voters mention the cost of healthcare. Cost was mentioned 3 times more frequently than any other healthcare issue, including universal coverage, increasing access, or Medicare concerns.