(Washington, D.C.) – Today, the Trump administration released an interim final rule to implement a most favored nation (MFN) policy for pharmaceutical reimbursement in Medicare Part B that will impose price controls across the United States.

CAGW President Tom Schatz made the following statement:

“The MFN policy was always a bad idea and it is especially inappropriate as the pharmaceutical industry has produced safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines in record time.  Implementing MFN for Medicare Part B will reduce future investment and innovation not just for pandemics but also for many other diseases.  While the Trump administration has made it a priority to reject socialism – and indeed, the November elections made it clear that the American people agree with that objective – adoption of the lowest price for pharmaceuticals found in 14 countries, including Canada, England, Greece, Italy, and Japan, is in fact adopting socialist policies.  While that may sound like a good proposal to help reduce drug costs, it is not.  It certainly will not stop global freeloading; it endorses that policy.  The incredible success of the U.S pharmaceutical industry would be in jeopardy at exactly the wrong time.  The administration should not go forward with this rule and instead, must prevent countries like China from overtaking the U.S. in biopharmaceutical research.”

CAGW is the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.

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