The editorial board of the Wall Street Journal is criticizing President Trump over an executive order expanding drug price controls.
“For that trade we could have elected Democrats,” the right-leaning Journal board wrote. “Trying to wring more money out of drug makers might cause some companies to stop participating in Medicaid.”
“Patients would then suffer from less access to novel treatments, as they do in countries with socialized health systems that impose price controls,” the board added.
Trump last month signed an executive order directing Congress to change a key provision of the law allowing Medicare drug price negotiations, primarily affecting small molecule medications — mostly pills. The move would fix one of the drug industry’s biggest complaints, deemed the Biden administration’s “pill penalty.”
“Drug price controls are a Democratic perennial,” the Journal wrote. “If Republicans go along with Mr. Trump’s most-favored-nation plan, Democrats will invariably extend it to Medicare and the commercial market next time they control Congress.”
The Journal has been consistently critical of Trump on and his agenda during his first 100 days in office, particularly on trade and the economy.
Trump has responded by calling the newspaper “rotten” and over the weekend refused to take a question from one of the outlet’s reporters during a gaggle on Air Force One.
