Under President Trump’s plan for lowering drug prices, Americans can pay less for medications even while keeping pharmaceutical companies profitable, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said Saturday.
“There are a lot of good reasons to have an executive order to address the inherent unfairness of American spending so much more than Europeans. We pointed out that there's about a two to four times increase cost of medications in the United States compared to other competing companies that are similarly wealthy as we are. Does it make sense?” Oz told Newsmax.
The U.S. is “literally subsidizing” the healthcare systems of other countries, Oz said. This means that “70% of the profits of the pharmaceutical industry are coming from Americans.”
However, pharmaceutical companies still need profit to innovate and continue the advances being made with medication, he added.
“Get other countries to pay more so we don't have to pay as much in America. If we do this the right way, pharmaceutical companies will continue to remain profitable. We want those workers and those researchers thriving, but we want to make sure the American people don't overpay for their medications,” Oz said.
Oz noted that European and Asian countries have negotiated more effectively than the U.S. has.
“If you let the private sector do things, they'll try to make money. That's what they're hired to do. And sometimes they'll make more money in one area than another, depending on how well folks are negotiating,” Oz said.
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However, two-thirds of Americans who go into bankruptcy do so because of healthcare issues, including the price of medications, Oz noted, but the pharmaceutical sector doesn't “want to be the bad guys” either. Half a dozen companies have approached the Trump administration to negotiate.
“They know this is not right. The question is, how do we correct what everyone [agrees] can be done better. Can we come up with better solutions? Again, we don't want to hurt the industry or destroy the industry. We just want to do something that's fairer for the American people,” Oz said, adding that approvals on medications need to be streamlined as well to help lower costs.
“Right now, now pharmaceutical companies will get one in 20 of their best products actually to market where they can sell them, and oftentimes it takes them years and a lot of money to figure out that they have a product that doesn't work. So we can streamline that process, get the regulatory engine moving more rapidly,” Oz said.
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