JustCare

Tag: Tariff

  • President Trump threatens Pharma with tariffs

    President Trump threatens Pharma with tariffs

    President Trump has spent his first few weeks in office undoing much of what President Biden had put in place, but he is not (yet) prepared to undo the Medicare drug price negotiation provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act. In fact, in a meeting with pharmaceutical company executives, he threatened to impose tariffs on pharmaceutical companies if they did not relocate their manufacturing to the US, reports Tristan Manalac for Biospace.

    “Pharmaceuticals, it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll go very substantially higher over [the] course of a year,” said President Trump. These tariffs would drive up drug prices substantially for working Americans. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), passed under the Biden Administration, penalizes drug companies for raising Medicare and Medicaid drug prices more than the rate of inflation.

    President Trump has still not said what he will do about Medicare drug price negotiation. Among other things, the IRA calls for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which oversees Medicare, to negotiate the price of 15 prescription drugs that drive high Medicare spending in 2025.  In 2024, CMS negotiated the price of 10 high-cost prescription drugs. Those new drug prices are set to take effect in 2026.

    Pfizer, Lilly, Merk CEOs all attended the meeting with President Trump. Their trade association, PhRMA, has been trying to undo the provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act that reduce drug company profits. The drug companies have sued the government, so far unsuccessfully, claiming that lower drug prices are effectively a taking of their property. Of course, the only reason they can charge the prices they do in the US is because our government has given them monopoly pricing power on patented drugs, unlike the governments in every other wealthy nation.

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  • 2025: Tariffs take effect, your costs likely to rise

    2025: Tariffs take effect, your costs likely to rise

    President Trump is making good on his pledge to place high tariffs on goods from China beginning today, February 4. (Tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada have been postponed for a month, as of now.) The fallout just from the tariffs on China is likely to be bad for your health and financial well-being. Along with the price of gas, cars, and eggs if the tariffs on Canada and Mexico go into effect, prepare now for increases in prescription drug and other health care costs, reports John Wilkerson for StatNews.

    Trump now acknowledges that his tariffs will cost you. Because China delivers us many prescription drug ingredients (Mexico provides us medical devices and Canada supplies gas, eggs and avocados and other produce) it’s far to assume the prices of prescription drugs will increase as well. In fact, we might end up with shortages of generic drugs if their manufacturing cost increases so much that companies can’t profit off their sale.

    In addition, hospital charges could rise. Hospitals use imported gowns, syringes and other supplies. Sometimes CT and X-ray machines are imported. Consequently, people are likely to see still higher health insurance premiums.

    Trump: “WILL THERE BE SOME PAIN? YES, MAYBE (AND MAYBE NOT!). BUT WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, AND IT WILL ALL BE WORTH THE PRICE THAT MUST BE PAID.” Trump suggested that the Canadian tariffs might lead Canada to agree to become a 51st state!

    Even conservative groups are concerned about the effects of the tariffs. The US Chamber of Commerce called the tariffs a mistake. Tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods will not address immigration or fentanyl issues, as the President has suggested.

    If the Canadian and Mexican tariffs go into effect, Americans should assume those countries will retaliate. Before Trump backed off the tariffs on Canadian goods (yesterday), Trudeau had asked Canadians to boycott American goods, including Kentucky bourbon and Florida orange juice, and avoid vacations in the US.

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