(NewsNation) — President Trump’s executive order to cut drug prices up to 80% isn’t winning over everyone.
Former pharmaceutical executive William Soliman joined “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” on Monday to discuss the president’s order, which aims to reduce the bill for Americans at the pharmacy.
The order relies on voluntary compliance from companies and international cooperation, leading Soliman to question its overall feasibility.
“The issue really with this executive order is it’s missing a lot of details. So it’s a lot of bark and no bite, from my perspective, because (at) the end of the day, you not only [have] to get the pharma companies to agree, but you’ve also got to get the other countries to tell you what the retail prices [are],” Soliman said.
“There’s actually nothing to force them to do that, right? So for a lot of these pharmaceutical companies, there’s very little incentive, obviously, to do that.”
Soliman says one of the primary reasons Americans pay vastly more for medical drugs is that the governments of foreign nations negotiate the price. However, in the United States, “middlemen” known as pharmacy benefit managers negotiate drug pricing, rebates and discounts on behalf of the health insurers.
“In the United States, over half of the population gets their insurance through their employers. It’s private insurance,” he explained. So for those not on Medicate, “it’s not going to actually make much of a difference.”
Instead, Soliman suggests many may receive no savings, and in one instance, may have to pay more.
“There could be a higher co-pay, because the pharma company may offset the loss of revenue on the Medicare side, which is about 20% of the country,” he added.