A slew of economists, including ones aligned with President Donald Trump, spoke out on Tuesday, warning that the president is about to upend the "crown jewel" of the U.S. health care system, according to a new report.
Multiple economists spoke to Fox News on Tuesday, saying that Trump's plan to create a government price cap for medications could have unintended consequences. Trump announced his plan, called TrumpRX, last week. It includes $150 billion in new investments from nine drug companies and a mechanism to steer consumers to buy lower-priced drugs directly from manufacturers, Fox News reported.
Economists told the outlet that the move could raise costs in other parts of the supply chain, which would cause the idea to miss its goal.
"At the most basic level, government price setting only limits what patients pay for a drug — usually reflected in an out-of-pocket or co-insurance payment," Michael Baker, director of healthcare policy at the American Action Forum, told Fox News. "This does nothing to address the overall cost of the drug, which someone still has to pay, nor does it lower the cost associated with development."
"Patients will experience far less of the crown jewel of the U.S. healthcare system that they are currently accustomed to receiving," Baker added.
Even economists at the Trump-aligned Heritage Foundation sounded off against the policy.
"The kind of government price controls that are most damaging to innovation are ones that limit the initial price a company can charge for a new product. That is the situation in some countries, but fortunately not yet in the United States," Ed Haislmaier, an expert in healthcare policy and markets at The Heritage Foundation, told the outlet.