Trump Walked Away From a Deal to Lower Drug Prices Because the Industry Wouldn’t Send Gift Cards Before the Election to Boost His Standing Among Senior Voters

The Trump administration negotiated a deal with the pharmaceutical industry that would have “addressed out-of-pocket consumer costs and covered the majority of the Medicare copayments that seniors pay for prescription drugs.”

This would have actually been a big win for America’s senior citizens.

But then, the Trump administration added a bizarre demand that gave PhRMA, the pharmaceutical companies biggest trade group, some serious concerns. The Trump administration wanted the drug companies to send $100 gift cards to drugs to seniors right before the election, a plan that sounds suspiciously like an effort to buy votes.

“We could not agree to the administration’s plan to issue one-time savings cards right before a presidential election,” Priscilla VanderVeer, the vice-president of public affairs at PhRMA. “One-time savings cards will neither provide lasting help nor advance the fundamental reforms necessary to help seniors better afford their medicines.”

READ: Mark Cuban is lauding Kamala Harris for joining him in his big fight to lower prescription drug prices

Industry officials told the New York Times that some companies were not thrilled with the deal but had nevertheless agreed to it. However, they all agreed they could not be a part of the $100 gift card (vote buying) scheme.

According the the Times, “The White House and the pharmaceutical industry were nearing a major deal to lower drug prices. Then the administration demanded that $100 cash cards be sent to millions of seniors before the election — and the industry balked.”

Since Big-Pharma wasn’t prepared to help Trump, Trump decided to not help Americans.

READ: Harris Correct That Trump Fell Short on Promise To Negotiate Medicare Drug Prices

Since Donald Trump walked away from this deal, the Biden-Harris administration has capped out-of-pocket Medicaid Drug costs and passed a law allowing the federal government to negotiate with Medicaid to further lower drug costs. And Kamala Harris has a plan to extend this cap to private insurance plans.