Trump Misleads on High U.S. Drug Costs

It’s true, as President Donald Trump says, that branded prescription drugs are generally cheaper outside the U.S. But he distorts the facts when he says, “as usual, the world is taking advantage of us.”

Prescription drug pricing experts say Trump’s gripe is with pharmaceutical companies and U.S. legislators who balk at such cost-controlling measures as having the federal government negotiate drug prices for Medicare.

The president also is cherry-picking when he says U.S. prices are “double, triple, quadruple” what other countries pay. Some drugs may have price disparities that high, but experts say the overall difference from other countries isn’t that large.

Trump’s comments about the cost of prescription drugs relative to other countries came during a cabinet meeting on Oct. 16.

: The other thing we’re doing that relates to people’s lives is the prescription drug prices are out of control. The drug prices have gone through the roof. And if you look at the same exact drug by the same exact company, made in the same exact box and sold someplace else, sometimes it’s a fraction of what we pay in this country — meaning, as usual, the world is taking advantage of the United States. They’re