Kathrine Frich
Six months after its big debut, a deep look reveals that the site is more of a selective boutique.
Keeping a roof over your head and food on the table is hard enough without worrying about the cost of medicine.
Millions of people struggle to pay for their prescriptions every day, hoping that new policies will finally bring some relief.
But sometimes, even the most promising solutions do not deliver what they say.
Sparsely stocked shelves
A major centerpiece of the presidential push for cheaper healthcare is a government discount website bearing the president’s name. Launched in February, the TrumpRx platform promised to slash prices on expensive brand-name medications.
But six months after its big debut, a deep look reveals that the site is more of a selective boutique than a massive supermarket.
An analysis by NPR of a Food and Drug Administration database shows that the site’s 92 deals cover less than 12% of the brand-name medicines made by the participating companies.
Crucial treatments for cancer, HIV, and inflammatory conditions are completely missing from the platform.
According to Dr. Ben Rome, a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, many pharmaceutical firms are only participating on a very small scale.
“The key takeaway is that most of these companies are doing this for a small number of products and in a limited setting,” Rome told NPR, adding that they are not acting on a large scale.
Better options exist
Many of the supposedly exclusive presidential discounts are easily beaten by simple generic drugs.
For example, the site lists the arthritis medicine Xeljanz at a discounted price of $1,518. Yet a generic version of the exact same drug is sold elsewhere online for just $30.
Boston University health economist Rena Conti told NPR that companies are deliberately picking and choosing which products to discount.
They keep their highly profitable blockbusters out of the program because they make their real money through patients with standard insurance plans.
“The companies are offering deals on the products that they choose, not the universe of products that they offer,” Conti explained. She noted that while this sounds great, it really only helps a very small sliver of cash-paying consumers.
In fact, most patients with good health insurance are far better off using their own copays. While the website proudly claims to have saved Americans over $400 million, that number has not changed in a month, and the White House has ignored requests to verify the data.
Sources: NPR
