PBS:  Trump announces all 50 states joining Medicaid drug pricing model

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Friday that all 50 states will join in on a program set to provide Most Favored Nation pricing to some drugs within the Medicaid program, bringing the net price of selected drugs down to prices paid in certain other countries.

Whenever somebody points out that prescription drugs are much more expensive in the US, than anywhere else in the world, Big Pharma explains that developing new medications is very expensive.  Somebody has to pay for it.

This is one of those long-standing arrangements where the US pays the freight for everyone else in the world.  If people in other countries know that we are paying the bill for pharmaceutical research, they don’t seem to appreciate it.

President Trump has reached agreements with 26 pharmaceutical companies to lower the price for brand-name drugs to Medicaid patients to the lowest price that any country in the world is paying.

I feel like we’ve talked about this issue before, and solved it before.  Maybe it didn’t stick, I don’t know.  Like wasn’t Obamacare supposed to do this?

This will save money for states instead of individuals, but it’s good to see that all 50 states have signed on to the agreement.  That seems obvious, but some governors are so partisan, they could have refused to sign just to keep President Trump from getting a win. 

Anyway, good for everyone involved.  I hope this works out.