White House insistence on $100 ‘Trump Cards’ being sent to seniors killed prescription drug deal: NYT

White House efforts to help Donald Trump politically before the 2020 presidential election prevented America's seniors from receiving $150 billion in prescription drug price relief.

"After months of heated accusations and painstaking negotiations, the White House and the pharmaceutical industry neared agreement late last month on a plan to make good on President Trump’s longstanding promise to lower drug prices. The drug companies would spend $150 billion to address out-of-pocket consumer costs and would even pick up the bulk of the co-payments that older Americans shoulder in Medicare’s prescription drug program," The New York Timesreported Saturday.

"Then the agreement collapsed. The breaking point, according to four people familiar with the discussions: Mark Meadows, Mr. Trump’s chief of staff, insisted the drug makers pay for $100 cash cards that would be mailed to seniors before November — 'Trump Cards,' some in the industry called them," the newspaper reported. "Some of the drugmakers bridled at being party to what they feared would be seen as an 11th-hour political boost for Mr. Trump, the people familiar with the matter said."

Priscilla VanderVeer, the vice-president of public affairs at PhRMA, cited the election timing as a reason the deal collapsed.

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