As former Republican Hill staffers who’ve lived through countless budget fights and health care debates, we know how hard it is to get a real policy win. TrumpRx is one of those rare wins. It’s already lowered costs for patients in the most tangible, obvious way imaginable. And the president deserves our praise for getting this done.
TrumpRx is the product of sustained negotiations and dealmaking with industry, backed by a White House that put affordability first. It’s arguably the most consequential health care achievement not just for this administration, but for any administration in recent history.
It’s also something Democrats never would have done. Not because they don’t talk about drug prices, which they do, but because their instinct is always more price controls and government. A serious public-private partnership that forces real price concessions through negotiation rather than regulation is something that is foreign to the Democratic Party.
Just as important politically, TrumpRx takes one of the Democrats’ favorite attack lines off the table. For years, they’ve claimed Republicans can’t deliver lower drug prices. That Democratic attack is now disproven.
Our sources on the Hill tell us members are surprised by how professional the rollout has been, how large the discounts are, and how smoothly the site works. The inevitable comparison is Obamacare.gov, and TrumpRx is the opposite experience.
With the midterms approaching, this is exactly the kind of accomplishment that cuts through. Republicans should put TrumpRx front and center in ads and outreach. The message writes itself: We negotiated and now you pay less.
